Two Sides of the Same Dime
by SailorMoonatic28
Summary: While exploring newly discovered ancient ruins with Scrooge, Louie finds a ring that turns out to be cursed and attaches itself to Huey; causing him to destroy the house and attack everyone! Scrooge asks Magica for help while still trying to come to terms with his newly unearthed feelings for her and she is in serious denial about her own feelings. Sequel to Phony Matrimony.
1. Chapter 1

"Okay lads, don't touch anything unless I say it's safe, these ruins are very unstable and so far, all the traps haven't improved on that." Scrooge cautioned his nephews as they cautiously entered the ante room of the ancient ruins they had been exploring.

Scrooge and the boys carefully inched their way through the seemingly safe chamber, no pressure plates or tripwires obviously visible. Along the stone walls various artifacts sat upon pedestals; items ranging from swords and shields to statuettes made of various materials, including gold and silver, and jewelry adorned with various precious gems; all illuminated by the luminescent stones mounted in the ceiling over each pedestal. Centered at the back wall stood a larger pedestal with Scrooges' goal resting upon it; a puzzle box.

The box, roughly the size of a shoe box and made of black marble, was intricately carved with several mysterious symbols. Scrooge used his cane to test the stones of the floor in front of the box's pedestal, and the pedestal itself for traps and once he was satisfied that it was safe, he snatched the box.

As Scrooge was claiming the box Louie found himself drawn to the other treasures in the room; namely a small golden ring that looked like a looped rope set with a stone he didn't recognize. He followed Scrooge's lead and tried his best to check for traps before taking the ring at the same moment Scrooge took the box. As soon as he pocketed the ring, Louie heard an audible clicking sound as the pressure plate the ring had rested upon was triggered.

"Ha! The box is- whoa!" Scrooge's triumph was short-lived as a large stone pillar suspended by chains swung down from a hidden crevice in the ceiling.

Scrooge quickly rolled out of the way, grabbing the boys as he did to protect them. The pillar-turned battering ram hit the wall and a chain reaction began as the wall collapsed and other traps were triggered.

"Let's get out of here quick!" Scrooge and the boys ran back out of the ruins, dodging traps and broken chunks of wall and ceiling along the way until they finally reached the helicopter and a waiting Launchpad.

"Launchpad get us out of here, now!" Scrooge barked as they jumped into the copter.

"Sure thing Mr. Mc D!" Launchpad responded with a thumbs up before following orders; taking off and leaving the collapsed ruins behind.

Once safely back at McDuck Mansion Scrooge took the box to his office to study it in hopes of opening it and the boys went to their room.

As the boys made their way down the hall, they crossed paths with Webby, who had been made to miss the trip for a family reunion with her granny, Mrs. Beakley.

"Hey Webby, how was the reunion?" Dewey asked as they greeted each other. "It was okay, I mean not nearly as interesting as I expected a spy family reunion to be." She shrugged.

"What do you mean? Surely there were all kinds of spy stories and techniques shared between a family of spies!" Huey asked. "Not really; most of them were very secretive and didn't say much beyond speaking either in code or in coded messages so it was pretty much a crash course on code breaking. Now, tell me about the ruins! How was your expedition, did you find anything cool?" Her eyes lit up as she began to bombard them with questions about the ruins.

"Well, Uncle Scrooge got his box thingy and I managed to grab myself a little souvenir," Louie produced the ring from his pocket and the deep green stone reflected a rainbow of colors in the brighter light of the house.

"Wow! That looks amazing!" Webby gasped. "Louie!" Huey frowned. "Uncle Scrooge had told us not to touch anything in there!" "You set off that trap in the ceiling, didn't you?" Dewey asked, a suspicious eyebrow raised. "What? We all got out of there in one piece, didn't we?" Louie brushed off his brother's accusation as he polished the ring with his sleeve.

"You need to tell Uncle Scrooge." Huey said sternly, attempting to take the ring from Louie. "No!" Louie shouted as Huey tried to take the ring from him. Louie and Huey struggled against each other for the ring. "You need to give it to Uncle Scrooge!" Huey snapped. "No, He'll just lock it up in his money bin!" Louie whined.

The two continued to fight for the ring until it suddenly sprang to life! The ring seemed to shimmer for a brief moment before unwrapping itself and wrapping around a finger on Huey's right hand.

"Hey!" Louie tried to pull the ring from Huey's finger. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Huey cried as his brother attempted to wrench the ring off. "It won't come off! It's stuck!" Louie let go of Huey's finger in defeat while Huey started to panic. "What do you mean 'it's stuck'? It can't be stuck!" He desperately tried to remove it himself but to no avail.

"Calm down, just try putting some lotion or butter on to grease your finger and I bet it'll slide right off." Dewey suggested. "Okay; that's a good idea." Huey agreed and the three, with Webby, went to the kitchen.

Dewey took the butter from the fridge and smeared it all over Huey's finger and the ring then he and Louie again tried to remove it but the only thing that slipped was their hands; the ring held fast. "It's not coming off! What do we do?" Now Louie was panicking. "I told you, you should have given the ring to Uncle Scrooge! Or better yet, listened to him and not picked it up in the first place!" Huey cried. "Well, we can't tell Uncle Scrooge now; he'll be furious!" Louie replied. "Okay, I'm sure we can figure this out ourselves we just need to calm down." Dewey said. "Maybe try washing your hands? Maybe the soap and water will loosen it?" Webby suggested.

Huey turned to the sink and reached for the faucet but instead picked up and threw a plate that narrowly missed Webby and his brothers and shattered against the wall.

"What the heck!? I know I messed up but really?" Louie snapped. "It wasn't me! It was the ring!" Huey said as the hand with ring reached in for another plate. The ring was shimmering again as the plate became a flying saucer and shattered against the wall like the previous one. "Well I guess we know why the ring won't come off; it's cursed!" Webby glared at Louie while Huey desperately tried to control his hand as it began to get more volatile, throwing and smashing more of whatever it could grab.

"What in blue blazes is going on in here-ahh!" Scrooge dodged a flying frying pan as he came in to the kitchen, drawn by all the sounds of crashing and shattering. He looked around and saw Dewey and Louie hiding under the table, Webby peering out from the pantry and Huey destroying the kitchen. "Make me stop Uncle Scrooge! Make me stop!" Huey cried; then he smacked himself in the face with a spatula. "Huey! What are you doing lad? Have you completely lost your mind?!" Scrooge attempted to take the spatula from his nephew only to be slapped in the face with it. "I'm sorry Uncle Scrooge! It's not me it's that stupid ring! It's controlling my hand!" Scrooge was about to yell at Huey when he noticed the shimmering, serpent-like ring on his finger.

Scrooge grabbed the ring and pulled hard; but it wouldn't budge. "Curse me kilts, that wee thing's stuck tight!" He said, finally relieving Huey of the spatula and getting a firm hold on his right arm so as to keep him from doing any further damage. "Thank you, Uncle Scrooge." Huey sighed in relief.

"Would one of you kindly explain to me where this ring came from?" Scrooge shot his nephews a firm look. Webby emerged from the pantry and Louie and Dewey crawled out from under the table. Louie hung his head. "I uh, grabbed it in the ruins while you were getting the puzzle box." He sheepishly admitted. "You did _what_? I told you not to touch anything in there!" "I know, I'm sorry Uncle Scrooge."

Scrooge sighed. "Well there's no doing anything about it now, let's go to my office and see about getting that blasted thing off Huey." Scrooge turned to the door, still holding Huey's arm and glanced back at all three of his nephews. "Just DON'T tell your Uncle Donald, if he finds out about this I'll never hear the end of it." The boys nodded, none of them wanted to hear what Donald would say about this.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the course of the next two days Scrooge tried everything he could think of to get the ring off Huey but to no avail; nothing seemed to be able to make it budge. The only real stroke of luck was that Daisy was moving so Donald was helping her and therefore not in the mansion much, so keeping him in the dark was easy; for now.

However, the good luck was balanced out by the realization that the ring was making Huey more volatile the longer it remained on his finger.

Webby entered the boys' room on the third day with optimism and some of her granny's spy tools, hoping to help remove the ring and was nearly hit with a ceiling light. She nimbly evaded the lighting fixture turned projectile and used the bag of spy gear she was carrying as a shield. "Guys, I borrowed some stuff from granny that might help."

Scrooge was in the room with the boys, attempting to get Huey under control and had managed to grab hold of him just before he could rip anything else apart. "Well then don't just stand there; I'll restrain him and you see of you can get the darned thing off him." Scrooge said, holding the writhing and wriggling boy. Webby opened the bag and revealed a pen laser, a pocket-sized saw and something that looked like a Swiss army knife with several different sharp things popping out of a shared handle with the press of a button.

"W-what are you gonna do with those?" Huey asked. "Try to cut the ring off. But you gotta stay still…" Huey's eyes widened in fear as Webby approached him with the pocket saw. "Uncle Scrooge help! Don't let her do it! I can't keep still, she'll cut my whole hand off!" He cried in panic, thrashing around even worse.

"At least you'd be rid of the ring." Louie shrugged. "Yeah, but my hand!" Huey cried. "I appreciate the thought lass, but it's probably not gonna work. At this point it's safe to say the ring most likely can't be cut." Scrooge said. "Yeah, and I wanna keep my hand!" Huey added, right before punching Scrooge in the beak. "You're lucky you're cursed." Scrooge muttered, rubbing his beak. "I'm sorry Uncle Scrooge." Huey whimpered.

Webby put the tools back in the bag. "Well, it was worth a shot anyway. Hey, I have an even better idea!" She exclaimed as a sudden flash of inspiration hit her. "What is it?" Dewey asked. "More ways to try to cut it off?" Huey asked apprehensively as he now wrestled with Scrooge on the floor. "No. I was just thinking; the ring is cursed right? Well, what about talking to someone who knows more about curses?" "Just what are you getting at?" Scrooge eyed her suspiciously. "Why don't I call Lena? Surely she and her dad might be able to help!" "I don't think-" Scrooge was interrupted by Huey hitting him over the head with his own cane. "I'm sorry!" "Call them!" Scrooge growled, rubbing the bump on his head.

About an hour later, with Huey finally and securely tied to his bed, Scrooge was in his foyer, telling Poe DeSpell what was happening and asking if he could help.

"I can certainly try; let me see the boy's condition for myself." He said. He owed Scrooge for aiding in restoring him to normal so he readily agreed to help lift the curse on his nephew.

Scrooge led Poe and Lena to the boys' room where Huey was confined to his bed. "Greetings, I have come to help you, which hand is the ring on?" Poe entered the room with a friendly wave as he addressed Huey. "My right hand; please get it off of me!" Huey pleaded. "I will try everything in my power to do so, don't worry." Poe said reassuringly as he moved closer to inspect the ring.

Poe looked over the golden ring as best he could with Huey's hand attempting to swat at him in spite of the restraints. "I can't determine anything from it's appearance but I'll try a couple of spells I know that might work." He said, taking a couple steps back to prepare for spell casting.

Poe first tried a generic curse removal spell, then a spell to try to turn the ring into a spaghetti noodle and finally a shrinking spell on Huey in hopes that the ring would no longer fit and fall off. None of it worked; the generic spell had no effect at all, the noodle spell bounced off the ring and hit Scrooge's cane and the ring just shrunk along with Huey; causing him to wriggle out of the ropes.

"Well that didn't help." Poe said, as Huey ran at him, shouting his apologies as he did. "Abra Duckabra!" Poe waved a hand and the ropes that once tied Huey to the bed sprang up and wrapped tightly around him once again. "Thank you!" Huey sighed as he fell to the floor.

"What are we gonna do? We can't just leave him like that!" Scrooge questioned, anger in his voice and concern in his eyes. "I don't know, I don't know any other spells that might work." Poe shrugged. "Although, I do know someone who knows more than I do and may just know how to remove the cursed ring." "Oh, don't say it…" Scrooge sighed while Poe just grinned, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "At least you don't have to deal with the rest of the family this time."


	3. Chapter 3

Magica DeSpell was cleaning her little hut on Mount Vesuvius; dusting, polishing and sweeping with a new vacuum sweeper Poe had gotten for her; which she was still trying to figure out. "Stupid powered broom… how do you even turn this thing on?" She muttered while searching for the 'on' button. "Why do I even need this? My dependable broom works just fine; so, what if I drop some dust bunnies when flying?... Oh, I'll just turn it on with magic!" Magica waved her hand and recited a few words and the vacuum sweeper sprang to life; loudly!

Scrooge knocked on Magica's door but there was no response. He knocked a couple more times and was about to just leave when he heard what sounded like a scuffle inside the hut. Scrooge burst through the door, not really sure why he felt the need to see what was happening, and saw something that almost made him keel over with laughter.

Magica was attempting to wrangle her vacuum sweeper as her spell had caused it to go bonkers! The vacuum sweeper acted as though it had a mind of it's own and began to suck up Magica's hair; she held it firmly by the handle and desperately searched for the off button, or a way to pull it off of her head at least, when suddenly there was a loud **CRUNCH** and it fell to the floor; leaving the broken off handle in her hands and her hair in a terrible state.

Magica looked over at her savior, Scrooge McDuck, who was quietly snickering, trying not to break in to full-blown laughter at her expense. She looked down at her vacuum sweeper and could plainly see what had happened; Scrooge had beaten it to death with his cane.

"I suppose I ought to thank you now?" She looked at him, the annoyance plain to see on her face as he continued to snigger. "Some gratitude would be appreciated considering I think I just saved you from being scalped by your own appliance." Scrooge said, still stifling some laughter. "Remind me to smack my brother for that later." Magica scoffed. "So, then Scroogie, what brings you here? Surely you didn't come here just to destroy that… atrocity."

Scrooge took a breath to calm the silent laughter and shook his head. "No, not really; I um, came here because I need… your help." He admitted reluctantly. She raised an eyebrow. "You need my _help_? With _what_?"

Magica honestly had no idea why Scrooge would come to her for any reason other than to accuse her of stealing his dime; normally she was the one who had to reluctantly ask for help when her schemes backfired; if Scrooge was asking for her help, did she even _want_ to know what was happening?

Scrooge inwardly cringed as he watched Magica eye him skeptically while questioning his coming to ask for her help, something he usually never did. The last time they had worked together was the pretend engagement and Haguk incident almost five months ago; he had really wanted nothing more than to put all that behind him but now, having to seek help from Magica, he couldn't help but find his thoughts returning to those events and the feelings that had started to come to light as a result. Forcing his mind away from the unwanted line of thinking he took a deep breath and decided to just get it over with and explain the situation.

"Well I'm sure you heard about the ruins that were discovered last month," He started, seeing curiosity rising in her dark eyes and doing his best to ignore the thought of how beautiful those eyes were.

"Go on…" Magica encouraged, interest piqued at the mention of the ruins. The discovery had made news the world over as no one could identify the civilization that had built them; they were the only known remains of an unknown people who had been lost to time until now. The idea of it intrigued and excited her because of the prospect of learning ancient and forgotten magic that no one else had known for centuries.

"Well, I managed to retrieve a puzzle box from a central pedestal in the main treasure chamber but-" "You can't figure it out and you're so desperate to know what's in it that you've come to ask for my help to open it?" Magica interrupted him with an expression that was a cross between smugness and excitement.

Scrooge almost laughed at her kid-at-Christmas like enthusiasm, it was actually kind of adorable when one considered she was obviously adding the smugness in an attempt to cover up just how giddy the idea of solving an ancient puzzle box made by a long-lost people made her. However, he remained focused on the reason he was here, swallowing his pride and admitting to needing her help.

"I haven't actually had the chance to even try solving the puzzle box; one of my nephews took a ring from the ruins." He explained. Magica's expression became more serious, almost disappointed. "And that requires my help how?"

He sighed, shoulders slumping as the thoughts of Huey's predicament returned to his mind. "It's cursed; and it has attached itself to Huey and we can't get it off. We've even had your brother take a look and he couldn't remove it; but he seems to think you might be able to."

Magica's eyes widened in surprise; she hadn't expected something like that, normally Scrooge never has too much trouble with curses, this must be bad if he can't deal with it on his own. "What exactly is happening?" She asked, wanting to get as much information as possible before agreeing to anything.

"He has these… episodes where he can't control his actions; it started with just the hand the ring is on but has gotten worse, to the point where he's unable to control most of his body." Scrooge explained. "Is that all? What does he do during these episodes?" To his surprise Magica seemed to be taking this seriously and might actually be willing to help, with that hope he continued to explain Huey's dilemma.

"He's completely aware of what's happening but has no control or ability to stop himself beyond crying out for help. His episodes are violent; it started with just slapping anyone close by and escalated to throwing and smashing things and to outright attacking anyone unfortunate enough to be near him." Magica nodded thoughtfully. "And no indication that he's been possessed by some entity that may have been in the ring?" She asked. Scrooge shook his head. "Not that I can tell; he hasn't acted like there's any other personalities in there, He just can't control his body."

Magica was silent for a few minutes; thinking over everything she'd just been told. It sounded like a spell that her friend Hazel had once cast on Donald that caused his feet and legs to do whatever she said to, regardless of what Donald said or tried to do. She had just died laughing when Hazel told her about it, imagining the agitated look that must have been on Donald's face the whole time. She figured that it wouldn't take much to deal with this 'curse' since she had already figured out what kind of spell it was so, without another thought she agreed to help Scrooge.

Scrooge stood in stunned silence for a moment before asking, "You'll help?" to confirm that he'd heard right. "That's what I said isn't it?" She turned and started to go into her bedroom. "Wait here while I pack an overnight bag; this time I'm actually going to prepare for a stay in Duckburg." She said with a small chuckle. Scrooge just nodded and waited, trying to convince himself that he _wasn't_ feeling the slightest bit happy that she was coming back with him.

' _What in the world is wrong with me?'_ Magica thought as she threw together a few things in a bag. ' _Why am I so eager to go back? Why do I even_ _ **care**_ _if his nephew is cursed?_ '

She couldn't figure it out and then it occurred to her that she hadn't even considered trying use the situation to get the dime back; in fact, now that she thought about it, she didn't have any desire to obtain the dime anymore; something was _definitely_ wrong with her! After having actually gotten to use the amulet she should have been even MORE determined to get the dime; but she'd given it back and no longer wanted it. She still questioned why she returned it but every time she thought about it too much an answer she didn't want to hear would start to echo through her mind and now that answer seemed to be applying itself to all the other questions in her mind.

Shaking her thoughts from her head Magica resolved to just deal with this curse as quickly as possible and then get back home and never set foot in Duckburg again.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where is the little bugger?" Poe frantically searched the manor for Huey, who had somehow managed to escape his restraints, trying to find him before he did anymore damage. **_CRASH!_** "Oh, drat!" "He's in here- AAHH!" Dewey's scream came from the dining room. Poe quickly made his way into the dining room to see what kind of destruction was happening.

Huey was chasing Dewey with a candlestick around the table and Dewey was having trouble keeping distance between himself and his brother. "Make him stop!" Dewey cried, just as he slid under the table as Huey swung the candlestick at his head, barely avoiding the rather heavy, solid silver object as it crashed into the table. "Make me stop _please_!" Huey cried as he lifted the candlestick again.

Poe grabbed hold of the candlestick and yanked it away with one hand and picked up Huey by the collar of his red shirt with the other. "It will _not_ be you in the dining room with the candlestick!" He said as Huey squirmed relentlessly, then kicked him in the shin. "OUCH!" Poe yelped in pain, losing his grip on Huey as he bent over to clutch his throbbing shin. Huey then ran out of the room, shouting his apologies as he fled.

Scrooge and Magica entered the mansion just as Huey ran past the foyer. "Uncle Scrooge help!" Huey cried desperately after catching sight of his uncle. "Abra Duckabra, Bulla!" Magica recited her magic words and a bubble enveloped Huey.

"Huh? What's this?" Huey questioned as his feet and fists futilely tried to break free of his new prison. "It's a magical bubble barrier. You can't leave it until I dispel it so you shouldn't be able to cause any chaos for now." Magica explained and she and Scrooge walked over to the bubble-bound duckling. "Oh, thank you!" he said, huffing a bit as his body continued to fight the bubble. Just then Poe limped in with Dewey helping him.

"Poe! What happened? Why are you limping?" Magica asked, alarmed at her seeing her brother unable to walk on his own power. "That little… child," Poe started, trying to keep his temper despite his leg throbbing like mad. "Kicked me in the shin." Another stream of apologies flowed from Huey's little beak as well as a few tears from his eyes. "Oh, don't cry; I'm fine see?" Poe said, attempting to stand without Dewey's assistance only to have intense pain shoot up his leg beneath his weight and send him to the floor. "Ow! Son of a biscuit!" Poe hissed as he gripped his leg again. "Poe!" Magica knelt down beside her brother and gently rubbed his leg; It was pretty swollen. "Poe that needs to be looked at!" She said and looked up at Scrooge, who said exactly what she was about to ask. "I'll call a doctor immediately." and walked into the nearest room with a phone.

Several hours later x-rays confirmed that Poe's leg had been broken by Huey's kick and he hobbled out of the hospital on crutches with a cast on the broken leg. Upon returning to Scrooge's mansion Magica helped Poe to get comfortable on a sofa before going to find Huey.

As they walked Magica made Scrooge aware of something that had been bothering her since she'd seen her brother's leg. "Scrooge, I think this curse is progressing in another way," She said, a look of unease on her face. "What do you mean?" He asked. "The force with which he kicked my brother, how badly he broke his leg… I think that things could get much worse if that ring doesn't come off." Scrooge's brow furrowed with worry at her words. "Well then, please get that ring off of him quickly." He said quietly.

The worry on Scrooge's face and tone of his voice was almost reminiscent of that night months ago, when he had been so worried about his family after Haguk had taken them all. Although, now that she wasn't so exhausted and worried about her own family, she noticed it; the far-off look in his eyes, like the current situation made him remember something equally terrible, something he didn't want to repeat. She decided not ask though, she was here to help Huey and then leave before she did anything she might regret and talking to Scrooge about anything other than Huey's situation could lead to just that.

They entered the boys' room where Huey had been restrained once more, still in the magical bubble and tied down to his bed. Magica created a small opening in the bubble so she could reach in to grab his right hand and examine the ring more closely.

"Hmm… this is exquisite craftsmanship, I've never seen anything like it before." She said as she turned his wriggling hand to study the ring. "Can you get it off?" Huey asked. "Well there's no question it needs to come off but I don't think it's coming off tonight. I need to study it more to figure out how to remove it. Come on." Magica released Huey's hand, sealed the bubble and with a flick of her wrist the ropes fell away and the bubble began to float. "Where can I go to study this ring?" She asked Scrooge, who was now trying to hide just how concerned he was for his nephew. "You can use the library." He said, motioning for Magica to follow him which she did with the bubbled Huey floating behind them.

Magica set out all of the books and equipment she had brought with her and spent the next several hours studying the ring as best she could with Huey constantly trying to slap her and then constantly apologizing.

"Hmm… Well this won't get the ring off or dispel the curse but it should help until I _do_ get it off." Magica released Huey from the bubble, waived her wand and chanted some words. Huey had started to lurch forward but as soon as Magica cast her spell he regained control of himself again. "Hey! I'm not attacking you or breaking things!" He cried in relief. "Well that was the point. I put a spell on you that will negate the ring's curse but it's only temporary." Magica explained. Huey sprang forward with a loud "Thank you!" and surprised Magica by giving her a big hug.

Magica just stood there for a moment, not really sure how to react; one of Scrooge's nephews was hugging her and that was just not something that normally happens. Once the shock passed, she gently patted the boy on the head. "…Your welcome…" She said slowly. Huey let go after a moment and carefully took a few steps, testing that he did indeed have control again. "Remember, it's just temporary; you still need to be careful and when you start losing control again you need to come to me immediately." Magica warned. "Okay," Huey nodded. "How much longer before this thing comes off?" Magica shrugged. "I couldn't say, I need to do more research; including talking to your Uncle some more about the ruins that ring came from."


	5. Chapter 5

Scrooge sat with Poe and the kids in the living room, listing to Poe tell stories about his and Magica's childhood to distract them from Huey's problem when Magica and Huey walked in.

"Poe! What are you telling them?" Magica demanded as she heard the sounds of laughter and Poe saying something about the family portrait taken when they were eight; Hexa and Castandra had decided it would be funny to play a prank on her and Poe which ended in them looking like they had been in a fight with a rainbow and lost. Not the finest moment to be sure; Magica's new favorite dress had been completely ruined that day and she looked like the saddest rainbow ever in that portrait as a result.

Poe chuckled. "Oh, I was just entertaining and distracting everyone with some highlights of days gone by." He responded lightheartedly. Magica scoffed as a few more chuckles sounded. "I wish I could have burnt that picture and turned Hexa and Castandra the sickliest shades of brown and green imaginable for that." She then gave her brother a warning look. "I hope that's the _only_ embarrassing thing you've talked about." Poe just grinned. "Well it isn't like I have photos or anything, but I assure you I haven't gone and said anything about anything that happened when we were younger than six."

Scrooge snickered. "Well now you've got me curious; but we should put aside this conversation for later." He looked at Huey who was now calm and not attacking anyone. "Did you get that blasted ring off of him?" He asked hopefully. Magica shook her head and Huey held up his hand to show that the ring still held fast. "Unfortunately, no, I'm afraid not. The best I could do for now was to put a negation spell on it to temporarily relieve him of the curse." Scrooge nodded, the hope in his eyes diminished a bit. "Well, that's better than nothing I guess." "Don't look so disappointed, I have no plans of giving up; I intend to research that thing as best I can and find out how to remove it."

The look in her eyes as she spoke was the same determination that was ever-present every time they faced off over old number one; something about that look made Scrooge feel reassured; reassured because he knew very well that Magica DeSpell was the type that when she set her mind to something she would do everything she could to see it through; He knew that because of every time she tried to get his number one dime and because it was a trait they both possessed.

"Before I get back to work though I would like to know about dinner; and don't expect me to cook again." Magica's voice pulled Scrooge out of his thoughts and reminded him that she most likely hadn't eaten since before she came back with him after Poe had transported him to her hut to aske for help. In fact, now that he thought about none of them had had lunch due to everyone trying to help deal with Huey.

"That's actually a good question and I think I have a good answer; how about we just have some take-out tonight?" Scrooge asked. "Well, since Huey totaled the kitchen, I don't think there's much choice." Dewey said. The others nodded. "And I don't think Granny really wants to deal with cooking right now…" Webby added, since Mrs. Beakley was a little _peeved_ at the state of the kitchen and most of the house on account of the ring.

Everyone discussed and reconciled what sounded good with what Scrooge was willing to pay for and it was decided that Scrooge would get dinner from a local diner that wasn't too expensive but still served good food. When Launchpad came in after being told by Mrs. Beakley to please just stay out of the way he offered to drive but Scrooge refused.

"Sorry Launchpad, but I've had enough crashes lately, I think I'll just walk and enjoy a little calm after the storm. Why don't you stay here and help keep an eye on the kids, just in case?" "You're gonna go by yourself? Aren't you gonna need help carrying all that food?" Launchpad asked. "That is true…" Scrooge said thoughtfully.

"Say, I have an idea; why don't you go with him sis? Get a little fresh air and make sure your order is right?" Poe said with a little laugh, a knowing grin on his face.

Magica could tell from her brother's expression what he was up to and just scowled at him. She might have argued but there were a few good reasons not to; Scrooge honestly couldn't be expected to carry everything back by himself, it wasn't a bad idea to make sure orders were right, she didn't want to let on anything to Scrooge and she was hungry and arguing would just mean it would take longer to get food; so she reluctantly agreed to go with Scrooge, making a mental note to slap her brother later not just for the sweeper but also to wipe that knowing grin off his face.

Around forty-five awkwardly silent minutes later Scrooge and Magica were entering the diner and placing their orders to go.

The diner was a retro train car style with booths on one side and a bar lined with bar stools on the other and kitchen behind a wall separating it from the dining area save for the window where the cook was passing food to the waitresses to serve to customers.

Magica sat on one of the stools and looked at the menu, contemplating testing her luck by way of asking Scrooge if she could add an ice cream to her order; the picture on the menu looked almost appetizing enough to see if the notorious penny-pincher would buy her an ice cream… again. As she thought about the ice cream, she remembered the night in the ice cream parlor and how he had told her that he'd figured her out, and her reaction which wasn't exactly graceful or convincing… maybe ice cream was a bad idea but it was too late.

"Excuse me, waitress," Scrooge called the waitress over who had take their orders a minute ago. "Yes Mr. McDuck? Did you need something else?" She asked, sounding more tired than pleasant. "If it's not too much trouble could I get an ice cream cone, sea salt ice cream if you've got it, and a hot fudge sundae while we're waiting?" He asked, handing the waitress the money for the ice cream. "Coming right up." She rang up the price on the cash register and gave Scrooge his change before disappearing into the kitchen for the ice cream.

Magica looked at him, a bit surprised as it was as if he'd read her mind. "What? Do you think I didn't see you looking at the picture on the menu?" He asked in response to her surprise. "Well, thank you. I wouldn't have expected it. I wasn't even going to ask." She murmured. "Eh, the ice cream does look good and I don't really want to hear any complaints about not getting you any if I'm going to have while we wait." The words were nonchalant and matter-of-fact but his tone and expression gave Scrooge away, he was doing a poor job of hiding his teasing. Magica couldn't help a quiet chuckle as the waitress returned with the ice cream.


	6. Chapter 6

"Well, fancy meeting you here!" Scrooge and Magica almost jumped out of their respective skins and almost spilled their respective ice creams at the sound of the voice behind them. The last time either one of them had seen Brigitta MacBridge hadn't exactly gone well. "Hello Brigitta." Scrooge turned to face the blonde who had been rather obsessed with him for a while and did his best to be polite and not let his fear show. "Hello." Magica said slowly, trying to be polite as well. "So, you're back in town?" Brigitta looked at Magica, nothing but smiles on her face. "Yes, for now." Magica answered, eyeing Brigitta cautiously. "Well then, we should all go on a double date sometime!"

Magica and Scrooge both choked on their ice cream at the words "double date". "Uh, what do you mean 'double date'? I thought it was made clear that there is nothing going on between us." Magica said, being the first to regain herself. "Right, because it most certainly _doesn't_ look like you two are on a date right now." Brigitta laughed while Scrooge and Magica both choked again.

"Um, Brigitta we really aren't on a date and- wait, if you're insinuating that we would be one of the couples on this 'double date' then who would you be with?" Scrooge asked, the realization occurring to him that Brigitta _wasn't_ asking _him_ to be _her_ date. "Well actually Rosolio and I have plans to go to that new lounge that just opened a couple weeks ago so I was thinking you two could tag along!" Magica tried to push aside any annoyance she felt about Scrooge asking why Brigitta wasn't asking him out but when she heard Rosolio's name she couldn't hide the surprise and that pretty much overran anything else at that moment. "Wait what? You and Rosolio? As in, that idiot who kept insisting I was his fiancée; Rosolio?" Magica asked in complete shock.

"Oh, don't say that. He really is a sweetheart you know, but I wouldn't go as far as to say we're officially a couple or anything; we've only been seeing each other for a month now." Brigitta said, a faint blush crossing her face. Scrooge couldn't help the smile coming to his face as he saw Brigitta's eyes light up as she spoke about her new budding romance. "Well I'm happy for you Brigitta." He said.

Magica was just too stunned for words, she'd wondered where Rosolio had been but she never thought he'd actually been seeing someone so soon, not that she wasn't happy about it she just couldn't help being floored because she'd figured he had been off moping or something. "I, I'm happy for you too; and I'm glad Rosolio isn't off being depressed somewhere." She finally spoke, after processing the new information. Brigitta and Scrooge spoke a moment more before Brigitta got her meal and walked off to a booth. Of course, she'd given Scrooge the date and time for the "double date" and reiterated that they should go.

"Well that was unexpected." Magica deadpanned as she returned to her sundae. "Yes, very unexpected. You seemed pretty taken aback that your former stalker got over you so quickly." Scrooge replied, between licks of his ice cream. "Are you bothered by it?" Magica swallowed hard to avoid chocking for a third time at the question that was totally out of left field. "Of course not! I'm glad he's not going to be giving me anymore headaches and… I'm glad that, it sounds like he's happy." Her voice was irritated and a little flustered at first but with the last part became quiet and Scrooge heard the sincerity in it as she said she was happy for Rosolio.

The waitress came out of the kitchen at that moment and handed them the bags with the carryout boxes inside and they stood to leave when yet another familiar face walked in. "Oh, criminy." Scrooge muttered as Donald walked in the 'In' door with Daisy right behind him. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments and then Donald saw who was standing next to his uncle and his expression conveyed that he knew instantly that something was up. "Quick, let's get out of here!" Scrooge said in a hushed tone as he grabbed Magica's hand and ran out the 'Out' door.

"Why are we running away from your nephew?" Magica asked as they ran down the street. She almost wanted to laugh, the whole scenario felt like they were a pair of teenagers trying avoid getting into trouble with his father. "Donald doesn't know about Huey," Scrooge huffed as he ran. "He's been with Daisy the last few days helping her move." "So, you just left him the dark but now that he knows I'm here again he knows you're hiding something," Magica said as she stopped and acted as an anchor of sorts, forcing Scrooge to stop. "What are you stopping for?" Scrooge panted. "We've got to get back before Donald does so we can stop him from finding out about Huey!" If you give me a minute to catch my breath, I'll just transport us there with a spell!" Magica snapped between deep breaths.

Once they had caught their breath Magica used her spell to return them to the mansion; however, Donald, by way of having Daisy drive him since she had driven them to the diner, had beaten them back and had already been informed of the situation curtesy of Poe and Mrs. Beakley.

Scrooge said nothing and walked into his home office with Donald behind, having a fit and sounding unintelligible as usual the whole way. Until they were inside the office. Magica was headed to the room she was to stay in and as she passed by the office, she heard Donald yelling at Scrooge.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of!" Donald yelled. "I'm sorry, but this is why I didn't tell you, because I knew you'd fly off the handle like this!" Scrooge defended himself. "And why shouldn't I? You can't get that thing off Huey, can you?" "Well no, not yet; but we're working on it and it will be off soon!" Donald scoffed. "That's why _she's_ here isn't it? You're really gonna trust _Magica DeSpell_ to get that thing off poor Huey?!" "Well she knows more about this kind of stuff than we do so what else can I do?"

Scrooge continued to defend himself and his actions but Donald's temper wasn't cooling. "Right; this is gonna be Della all over again isn't it!" Donald spat, his voice cracking a little. "Don't say that! Don't even mention that! You know I tried as hard as I could back then…" Scrooge's voice faded and his eyes started to well up. "This will _not_ be like that. I _will_ fix this and everything will be _okay_ this time." He said, the sound of desperation in his voice. Now Donald seemed to calm down. "I'm sorry Uncle Scrooge, I shouldn't have said that… I'm just worried about Huey." "I am too."


	7. Chapter 7

Magica started to continue to her room as silence filled the air, she knew she shouldn't have been eavesdropping, not like she couldn't hear Donald yelling anyway, but still. However, she didn't move fast enough; Donald walked out of the office and looked at her; he didn't say anything but the expression on his face as he walked past her was one of distrust, further proof she needed to finish with that stupid ring and leave quickly.

Apparently even after helping to save him and his nephews from Haguk Donald still didn't care much for her. Not that she could blame him, she hadn't exactly been nice to him; ever. He had perfect reason and every right to despise her, they all did. That was why, she reminded herself, she needed to ignore her mixed up feelings; because it could never work.

Scrooge sighed and slumped down in the chair behind his desk. He'd seen Magica when Donald stopped to glare at her so he knew she'd heard at least some of had been said. "Magica… I know you're there… please tell me you'll get that ring off my nephew…" He sounded so small and frightened, Magica couldn't help being concerned; Scrooge McDuck never sounded that afraid or desperate about _anything_ the only time she'd heard him sound even close to that was that night when he'd thought he'd lost everything. Magica hesitantly entered the room. "I'm sure I'll be able to get it off, it just might take a little time…" She trailed off as he looked up and she could see his eyes welled up, a mixture of grief and dulled anger behind the moisture. Before she could stop herself, she asked, "Scrooge?... Are you okay?" He nodded, taking of his glasses to wipe his face. "Yes, I'm fine."

Her response surprised both of them as the words just compulsively flew out of her mouth. "You and I both know that's a big, fat hunk of baloney Scrooge." He raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she continued to speak. "Clearly what Donald said upset you greatly and I would have to guess it was exactly why you didn't want to tell him…" She trailed off, pondering if she had just put her foot in her mouth. Scrooge sighed. "You're right. You're completely right." He said. She stood silent for a moment, the words no longer just flying out of her mouth. After a moment she finally said the only thing she could think of; after all, why not just keep digging the hole she had started? "What did he mean by that anyway? That this was 'going to be Della all over again'?" She asked.

Scrooge contemplated for a moment about whether or not to answer the question; did he really want to say anything about that particular subject to Magica DeSpell? Then he thought about how she'd told him things when they were pretending to be engaged and ended up deciding he need to talk about it. So, he did, he asked Magica to shut the door and have a seat then proceeded to tell her about Della and what had happened. How he had already dealt with the mess he'd made before Donald and Della were hatched when he'd let his pride and growing success get in the way and cause a falling out with his sisters, how after making amends he'd become close to his nephew and niece and how Donald had taken the triplets and walked away after Della was lost.

He told her how he'd learned that his success and wealth were much more rewarding when he'd been able to share them with his family and how much it hurt and how much he blamed himself for what happened to Della and he even found himself admitting to his fear of something like that ever happening again. It was like once he'd started talking the words flowed like a waterfall, rapidly without sign of stopping until he'd finished his story.

Magica was completely flabbergasted at how much Scrooge had just told her; she'd known he hadn't always been the semi-generous and kind person he is but she never knew just how rotten he'd been, it reminded her a little of her sisters and as far as his niece, well, she could sympathize to a point and she told him as much, she understood the guilt because she had truly felt terrible for Poe being trapped in raven form for so many years, missing out quite a bit on raising Lena, in fact, on threat of a severe maiming if anything ever left that room she admitted to feelings of guilt about the way she'd been toward her own family sometimes.

"I guess we really are quite alike huh?" Scrooge said with soft chuckle after their confessions. "I guess so." She chuckled back. "Well I'm going to go to my room now." Magica got up and started for the door. "You should get some sleep too, we've got a big day tomorrow." She said as she took the door knob in her hand. "Why do you say that?" Scrooge asked. "Because, I'm going to need your help in my research, we need to learn everything we can about that ring so I'd like to see the ruins for myself."

"That's going to be a bit of a problem." She turned around at that and looked him in the eye. "Why?" "Because the ruins completely collapsed. They were already unstable but the booby traps Louie unintentionally sprung were enough to bring them down." Magica groaned irritably. "Well there goes that idea then. With no idea what any of it looked like I couldn't use my magic to fix it, at least not correctly." "Well there's still the box… maybe that might have something useful in it?" Scrooge suggested, remembering how excited she had been about trying to open it. "It just might. We'll have to work on opening it. I may also get in touch with my friend Hazel, she's used a similar spell before so she may have some suggestions." "Sounds like a plan then." Scrooge said, still not sounding too enthused. Magica offered a smile. "I told you I'd get that ring off of him and I will so stop looking so glum. Do you even know how seeing you look so down makes me feel?"

She immediately turned to the door as the sentence came out, feeling the blush creeping up her face while he remained silent for a very long minute before finally speaking. "Thanks, Magica. Goodnight." She could swear she heard the smile in his voice and feel her heart lurching around, first dropping into the pit of her stomach at her own words then kind of fluttering at the sound of his words. She left without another word and went straight to bed.

Scrooge couldn't help himself and was glad she had turned around; he was pretty sure that her practically telling him she didn't like him being sad made a goofy, twitterpated grin spread across his face and he wouldn't have been able to do anything about it if she hadn't turned around.


	8. Chapter 8

"Mama! Please tell me my fortune again today!" A little Magica, her dark hair in pigtails that swished around with her excited movements as she bounced around behind her mother. Her mother smiled at her. "Of course, my dear. You know I love telling your fortune, though you might want hold off asking again for a while after this; this is the fourth day this week!" She laughed as they sat at her mother's fortune-telling table which was draped with a dark blue tablecloth embroidered with all the constellations of the night sky.

Magica watched with nothing short of awe as her mother took her crystal ball from it's cabinet and set it on the table. "Let's use the crystal ball this time and see what it shows us today hm?" Her mother said as she waived her hands over the crystal ball and chanted some words. "Oh, crystal ball show us a glimpse of the future; impart us with some small knowledge of things to come." Magica looked intently into the crystal ball as it began to fill with a magical mist that swirled around for a few moments before parting to reveal an image.

"Well that's interesting." Her mother said as the crystal ball revealed the image of a boy around Magica's age, and if things in the background where accurate, it was not a vision of the future but a current vision of a boy who existed somewhere in the world. "Mama why is the crystal ball showing us him?" Magica asked, annoyed that it didn't seem to working. Her mother's previous fortune tellings had been pretty standard; her sisters being mean, she and Poe getting a good grade on the next week's test, but never had something like this come up before.

"Well I would have to say it most likely means that his future is connected to yours somehow, you two are destined to cross paths in someway someday." Her mother explained. "Really? How can you know for sure?" "Because I can read the future, at least what little that can be read. You know I've told you that future in it's entirety is not set in stone so the only things that be truly foretold are things that are meant to happen one way or another." Magica nodded. "So, the crystal ball is saying that I'm going to encounter this boy one way or another in the future?" "Exactly my dear. Although we won't know how or why until the day comes that you two meet because that will be entirely up to the two of you."

Her mother grinned slyly. "Who knows what kind of connection you two will have; you could be friends, enemies, maybe he could even be your future husband!" Her mother laughed while Magica just crinkled her little beak as she studied the boy's hard and determined expression. "Enemies, definitely enemies. This kid looks like nothing but trouble to me."

Her mother just continued to laugh but the sound suddenly mixed with and was replaced by the sounds of destruction and Huey's wailing apologies as Magica was pulled from her memory dream. She looked at the clock on the nightstand beside the bed and just groaned. 3:00 am. The spell just couldn't last through the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Huey had been awoken by ring forcing him to move about, this time chasing Louie while Dewey, Webby and Lena were trying to stop him. Luckily, he didn't have a candlestick this time; instead he was relentlessly attacking his youngest brother with a squirt gun filled with paint, something the ring must have made him prepare before he woke up.

Scrooge, Mrs. Beakley and Poe all emerged from their rooms to try to get the situation under control, Donald had reluctantly gone back to Daisy's since he had promised to help her and he knew there wasn't really anything he do for Huey other than not fight with Scrooge so everyone could focus on Huey.

They all tried to subdue Huey but Mrs. Beakley got sprayed in the face with paint which blinded her as it completely covered the lenses of her glasses, Poe just couldn't keep up with his crutches and fell on his face as a crutch caught the runner in his attempts to catch Huey. Scrooge got close to catching Huey but also got sprayed in the face with paint which somehow made its way into his mouth causing him to choke a bit and be grateful that it was just non-toxic finger paint.

Suddenly everyone heard a door slam from down the hall and someone stomping towards the chaos. Poe finally managed to get up and realized that things might get more chaotic as he saw his sister taking in the sight of all the paint splattered chaos.

Magica looked very agitated at being woken so abruptly, her scowl was all that they needed to see know she wasn't in the mood for dealing with these antics. It was also clear that she had been in deep sleep before being awakened because her hair was sticking out in a few different directions and she still looked half-asleep as she stood, glaring at Huey whose fear had actually granted him enough control to stop for a moment. She was wearing a robe over her oversized nightshirt that hung haphazardly off her right shoulder, enveloping all but the tips of the fingers on that hand.

Everyone watched silently as Magica just grunted irritably before chanting the bubble spell again. Then she raised her right hand and the robe sleeve fell back into an appropriate position, she then turned to boys' room and waived her hand, the robe sleeve again enveloping her hand when she did, to make the bubble follow her inside where she then tied it down to Huey's bed. "Now _stay put_." She semi growled before walking back to her room without another word.

"Well, at least we can all go back to bed now." Mrs. Beakley said slowly, eyeing Magica 's door. "Yeah, my sister doesn't take well to her sleep being disturbed. Honestly, I don't think she was even fully awake." Poe said with a small chuckle as he hobbled back to bed.

Magica rubbed her eyes and yawned as she shut her door, thinking only of returning to that comfortable bed and going back to sleep but was instead jolted completely awake by a voice behind her.

"I guess it makes sense I'd find you _here_." Castandra giggled, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Magica turned to face her sister, now even more annoyed. " _What_ do _you_ want?" She eyed her sister suspiciously. "Wait, let me guess; you came to try to sweet talk your way into Scrooge's wallet, didn't you?" Castandra feigned offence and shook her head. "As tempting as that would be, I know that would be crossing a line so I would never do that." She giggled and winked at Magica who just rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you think but stop thinking it." Magica sat on the bed beside her sister. "So, if you're not here to empty Scrooge's money bin then why are you here?"

"I'm here because I was worried that something had happened to you. I am glad to see that you're here and just fine." Castandra explained. Magica raised an eyebrow. "And why would you think something had happened to me? It's not like I ever tell any of you anything most of the time." "Magica, you really don't know do you? Well then I'm REALLY glad I found you first." Castandra's concern and serious tone was unsettling; if something happened to make any of her sisters worried enough to go looking for her then it must be bad. "Castandra, just tell me what's going on." "Put simply, you shouldn't have given back that dime."

"Why not?" Magica had a creeping feeling of what Castandra was going to say and any hopes of hearing any thing different were crushed. "The Elders know what you did and they considered it defiance," Castandra's eyes widened and her voice quivered a little as she spoke. "Magica, they were looking for you and summoned the three of us, asking where you were! I went straight to your house after that and they'd already sent someone to find you; the place had been turned upside down!" Magica took a deep breath as she took in her sister's words.

Of course, the Elders knew she hadn't kept the dime and had even quit going after it and of course they wouldn't like that. Magica honestly hadn't even thought about them or what they would say about her giving up on the task they'd given her. "Well, thank you for coming to tell me. I had no idea…" Castandra took one of her sister's hands in a comforting gesture. "We may not always get along but that doesn't mean we don't care." Magica gave a little smile and nodded. "Thanks."

"So, now what are you going to do about this?" Castandra asked, the concern and quiver leaving her voice. "How should I know!?" Magica snapped, the 'loving sisters' moment now completely over. She then eyed Castandra suspiciously again. "Better question; what are _you_ going to do now? Don't tell me you intend to hang around here now…" Magica trailed off, considering letting Huey use her sister as a target to keep him distracted if she planned to stay. "No, not this time; I'm going back to let Winnicent and Hexa know I found you and you're alright. I'll let you know if we hear anything else." "Okay, good." Magica nodded, feeling uncertain about the whole mess but still glad that she was made aware and that Castandra _wasn't_ going to stay.

"Besides, I wouldn't want to disturb you and Scroogie!" Castandra giggled as she used a transportation spell to vanish just before Magica could yell at her. Magica yawned and looked at the now empty bed. "Ah forget it, I want to go back to sleep now that all is quiet again. I'll deal with everything tomorrow."

She flopped back into the bed and as she drifted off, she silently cursed her family for taking all of them and Scrooge for making her sleep on the floor last time; these beds were some of the most comfortable beds she'd ever slept on and it was practically criminal that she'd missed out before. Although, she couldn't deny that the floor wasn't altogether uncomfortable that last night; it had been warmer with Scrooge curled up beside her. Not that she'd ever tell him she'd briefly woken up when he settled in beside her that night and had known before waking up that he was there.


	10. Chapter 10

After breakfast the next morning Poe sat with Magica in the library to help her do research and she told him about her dream. "I hadn't thought about that for a good while." Poe said, remembering times when their mother told his fortune. "I know." Magica said, then pulled her mind back to the present.

"What's more, I never thought about that boy in crystal ball again until I once used time travel magic to try to steal Scrooge's number one the day her first earned it." Poe raised an interested eyebrow. "Go on…" He encouraged, certain he already knew what she was going to say. "It was him; it was a young, snot-nosed, stubborn little Scrooge McDuck that mother's crystal ball showed us. I was right about him too… nothing but trouble." Poe chuckled. "I imagine in more ways than you'd expected huh?" Magica rolled her eyes at her brother. "Button your beak." "Now, now; no need to get in snit. Although… are you sure Mother wasn't right as well?" he sniggered again. "You're lucky you're injured… that's three strikes now, but I can't bring myself to slap your beak off when you're already hurt." Poe just continued to snigger while Magica glared at him.

"You know Mother always had a keen intuition about her readings." He said when he'd stopped laughing. Magica sighed and nodded. "I know, that's what made her so good at predicting the future." "You never told me Grandma could tell the future!" Magica and Poe turned and saw the all kids at the door; Huey still in his bubble, Dewey and Louie on either side of Huey's bubble pushing and rolling him into the library and Webby and Lena right behind them.

"That's right, I never did tell you much about her, did I?" Poe said as Lena stood beside him and shook her head. "Your mom could see the future? That's so cool!" Webby squeaked, Huey and Dewey nodded. "Obviously she either couldn't see the future that well or didn't bother warning you about your umpteen failures to steal Uncle Scrooge's dime." Louie chuckled, unable to keep his sarcasm to himself.

Magica wasn't amused but kept her temper in check, deciding to explain her mother's future seeing instead of biting Louie's head off. It could just be part of Lena's lessons.

"Looking into the future isn't what books and movies make it out to be." She started. The kids eyed her with curiosity. "So, you can't just look into a crystal ball and see exactly what's going to happen, like tomorrow?" Dewey asked. "No, you can't. You might see things like what you'll wear tomorrow or yourself headed out to school but that would be about the gist of it." Poe explained. "Why would you only see going to school or what you'll wear?" Webby asked. "Because; the future isn't set in stone." Magica said.

"Certain little things like the clothes you wear and going to school are things you would already know; You've most likely already given thought about what you'll wear tomorrow or that you'll have to go to school." The kids began to look unimpressed as Magica explained but she continued on with her explanation.

"Other things, like you two for instance," Magica motioned to Lena and Webby. "Would be partially shown. A proper foretelling would show that the two of you would meet, being that you're connected to myself and Scrooge it was bound to happen, but you becoming friends couldn't have been predicted." The girls looked confused. "Why not?" Webby asked. "Because your meeting had many different possible outcomes. It was entirely up to the two of you whether or not you would be friends or enemies." Magica reminded herself of her mother, explaining future reading to the kids like her mother had to her so long ago.

"So, what you're saying is that while some things have already been decided or are destined to happen that's just a small fraction of the future; the rest is made up of too many possible outcomes to accurately predict what will happen?" Lena asked, looking to her father and aunt for confirmation of her summary.

"Precisely." Poe said, beaming with pride at how well his daughter had understood the lesson. "As they say… Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be." Magica said with a shrug. As she turned to pick up one of the books she had been using for her research she heard Poe begin humming the tune for the song. Remembering her mother singing that song to them when they were young, she found herself beginning to sing the lyrics.

" _When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother; what will I be? Will I be pretty, will I be rich? Here's what she said to me~_ " Poe then joined her in the chorus. " _Que sera, sera: whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see, que sera, sera~_ "

As they sang the kids just quietly listened, Magica's voice was soft and melodic and Poe had the voice of a crooner like Sinatra or Crosby and together they sounded soothing and nothing short of magical.

"That was lovely." Webby sighed when they finished. "Why, thank you." Poe said with a warm smile. "It's been a very long time since we last heard our mother sing that song." He said, thinking back fondly. "Yes, but I can still see her preparing her potions while she would sing to the vinyl playing the song."

"Vinyl? As in an old vinyl record? Just how old are you two?" Louie piped up, then suddenly they heard Scrooge laughing from the doorway. "Lad, that's like one of those high-end stores where they don't put price tags on anything… if you have to ask then you really don't want to know." He laughed again. Magica turned around and glared at Scrooge, feeling an intense desire to slap his face for that remark; although she also felt her heart fluttering a bit from the absolutely smug, teasing and mischievous grin that was plastered on his face. Poe just laughed as well. "I'm not ashamed to admit I was already older when Lena came along." He chuckled.

After the laughter died down Poe ushered the kids out of the library, saying that they needed to stop distracting Magica from her research and let her work, though the wink he gave Magica he exited the room told her that he had other reasons for leaving her alone with Scrooge. She was seriously about ready to smack the next person who teased her about that old fool. Scrooge, however lingered, still snickering.

"That was _not_ cute you know." Magica scoffed. "I just couldn't help myself." He said, the snickers dying away. "Well when do you want to work on that box?" He asked once he'd stopped snickering. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and she looked Scrooge in the eye.

"Just how long were you standing there before you opened your beak?" She asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious about the possibility he'd heard them singing. "Just long enough Magica, just long enough." He grinned again, his expression telling her he'd heard her and Poe singing to the kids. "Not a word McDuck; not a word." She said, trying to fight the blush creeping over her face. "As you wish Magica." The grin was still plastered on his face, smug and mischievous and making her heart skip a beat. Then he returned to the subject of the box.

"I had almost forgotten about that, let's just start with that and I'll come back to these books later." She put her book back down on the table where she had spread out several other books, both leather-bound magic texts and her own notebooks. "I'll bring the box in but you'll have to work on it on your own for a while, I have an interview scheduled this afternoon, about those ruins actually so I'm going have to take care of that." "Well that won't be much of an interview," She deadpanned. "Your nephew demolished those ruins so I can't imagine there's much to talk about." Scrooge scowled. "Don't remind me; I haven't gotten that box opened yet and I'm certainly not going to say a word about that blasted ring."

For a while Magica worked on the puzzle box while Mrs. Beakley and Poe, with the other kids help, kept Huey upstairs and in his bubble prison and away from the interview. She eventually left the library to peek into the living room where the interview was being conducted to watch Scrooge as he tried to find something to say in response to the reporter's questions.

The reporter herself wasn't much better though, clearly new to her job; the mousey thing with pale green feathers, large glasses with thick lenses and ashy brown hair was fumbling with her mic and had seemed to have more trouble asking her questions than Scrooge did answering them.

The interview closed out when she accidentally took out the cameraman with her after stumbling on the edge of the large area rug and sent her mic flying right into his head. "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. McDuck, I'm just so nervous, this is my first big interview." She apologized. Scrooge tried not to laugh at her as he told her if was fine before she helped the cameraman pack up the equipment and leave.

"Well that was chaotic without your nephew needing to interrupt it." Magica chuckled from the library door. Scrooge looked over and saw her looking amused at the poor reporter's mess of a first interview. "I can't disagree. At least I didn't have to worry too much about my lack of, well, anything much to say." He chuckled a bit himself. "Poor thing though." Magica scoffed. "What? You feel sorry that she couldn't keep it together and actually conduct an interview?" Scrooge shook his head. "No, I meant that cameraman, he's gonna have a nasty bump!" They both laughed.

"So, what about that box?" He asked. Magica beamed proudly. "I got it open." "Well then let's go in there so you can show me!" Scrooge practically bolted into the library.

Now he was acting like the kid at Christmas and Magica tried to ignore what she was feeling as she watched his eyes glint with excitement just before he took off to the box. She just sighed as she followed him.

The black marble box sat open upon the table amongst the books. Inside where some small scrolls written in a language neither of them knew, a golden pendant, and silver cuff bracelet, both engraved with a few symbols of the unknown language.

"What do you make of all of it?" Scrooge asked her. "I'm really not sure; I can't read the language, that could take a while to translate and we likely don't have that much time." She said, then picked up the jewelry. "These are just ordinary in the sense that they aren't magical." Scrooge examined the pieces himself more closely. "They do look ornamental though, probably status symbols for higher social class of the civilization." He supposed and she nodded in agreement.

"What baffles me though is that looking at the designs, and more specifically the tool marks, these seem too different from the ring your nephews found." Scrooge looked at Magica with concern. "So, then you think that these scrolls don't say anything about the ring?" She shook her head. "I couldn't say for certain with just those three things to compare but I feel like that ring is too different and those scrolls are most likely some sort of diary or governmental records."

Scrooge carefully looked over the scrolls and decided Magica was most likely right, they looked vaguely similar to ancient Greek and Roman documents and if that meant anything then while the contents would still be interesting, they most likely wouldn't have any information about the cursed ring.

"Now what?" He asked, the concern for his nephew rising in his eyes. "Let me call Hazel; she may know a way to remove that spell… I'm beginning to have my suspicions about that ring." Magica's eyes revealed the gears turning in her mind, and a hint of anger rising as whatever she suspected was turning in her mind. "What? If you've figured something out then please tell me, I don't want to be in the dark, we're talking about my nephew here after all."

Magica nodded and proceeded to tell him about her unexpected visitor the night before and what her sister had told her about the elders. After several moments of discussion Scrooge agreed with her suspicions about the ring and left to check on Huey while she used her own crystal ball to call Hazel.


	11. Chapter 11

In the boys' room the bubble had finally been pierced by Huey's uncontrollable efforts. Scrooge came in just as he was about to kick Poe's other leg and grabbed him by the collar just in time to stop him. "Uncle Scrooge I can't stop!" Huey cried as he swung around in his uncle's grasp. He nearly kicked Scrooge's shin but was stopped when he was bubbled again by Magica.

"Okay that's enough of that. Let's put a stop to this destructive behavior now." She said, walking over and rolling the bubble to the middle of the room. "Did you figure out how remove the ring?" Huey asked hopefully. "Yes," She replied with a triumphant grin. "My friend Hazel was able to tell me spell that should do the trick." Huey sighed in relief. "Oh, thank you!" "Don't thank me just yet." She said as she removed the bubble then quickly recited the spell Hazel had given her.

Huey launched at Magica the second the bubble dispersed but stopped dead in his tracks when began reciting the second spell.

The whole room went quiet as she chanted the Latin words and then they all heard the sound of a soft clank as the ring released and hit the floor. Magica immediately bubbled the ring and picked it up.

Huey stood still, lost in total disbelief as he waited for uncontrollable movement that no longer came. Suddenly he launched at Magica and she found herself again wrapped in huge hug. She froze, still not used to such affection, especially from Scrooge's nephews.

"Thankyouthnakyouthankyouthankyou!" The words of gratitude spilled out uncontrollably and Magica gently patted his head again, not sure what to say or do and she was slightly unnerved by the warm, fuzzy feeling creeping up inside her. Then she noticed the expression on Scrooge's face; again, he had that smug and mischievous grin but behind it she could see the relief in his eyes, so this time it didn't quite make her feel like hitting him.

"Uh… Your welcome…" She said slowly. Huey let go and looked up at Magica, his eyes full of gratitude and a little moist. "You practically saved my life, you're not such a bad person after all." Magica managed an awkward smile. "If that ever got out to the world my reputation would be ruined so just keep it between us, hm?" Huey nodded and turned to face everyone else in the room. "I am so sorry about everything I did." Scrooge put his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "It's all right lad, it wasn't your fault." Huey hugged his uncle who happily returned the gesture.

After a moment they pulled apart and the boys, Webby, and Lena all began to celebrate Huey's freedom. Poe hobbled out of the room saying he'd call Donald and let him know the good news, leaving Scrooge and Magica to head to the library where Magica began to clean up her books.

"You're not planning to leave now, are you?" Scrooge asked as Magica packed up her notebooks. "I… don't know; I'm at least cleaning up the mess I made in here for now though." She turned to Scrooge. "Why?" "Well, I was thinking that some celebration is in order," He started hesitantly. "Let me guess, Brigitta called earlier to confirm and now we're roped into that double date?" Scrooge chuckled and nodded. "Yep, Exactly."

Magica laughed. "Well then I guess I'll go get ready." Scrooge's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, you mean you're actually going to go on a date with me?" She rolled her eyes. "Don't read too much into it Scroogie; I just don't want to hear about it anymore than you do if we don't show up." She left the room after that and he couldn't help the thrill that he felt at the idea of this double date; much as he might have wanted to deny it; he couldn't anymore, at least not to himself, he was genuinely excited about the evening ahead.

Magica sighed as she stood in front of the mirror in her room. "I must be out of my mind to agree to this." "Agree to what?" she almost jumped out of her feathers at the sound of her brother's voice behind her. "Well don't you look nice this evening." Poe smiled playfully at his sister's scowl.

Magica was wearing an elegant mermaid style evening dress; it was black of course, with a sweetheart bodice and sheer caped sleeves with beaded appliques on the shoulders. "Looks like someone is dressed to impress." Poe kept grinning at his sister. "Oh, shut it Poe. I just figure if I'm going to some fancy Lounge, I should look nice." Magica scoffed. Poe chuckled. "And it has _nothing_ to do with the fact that you're going on a date with Scrooge?" He teased. "Why should it? I mean really why is it such a big deal if I'm going on this double date with him?" "Because you and I both know you have it bad for him." Magica blushed. "I do not…"

"Well, for argument's sake if you _did_ have a thing for old Scroogie what would be so bad about that?" Poe asked. Magica sighed. "For starters I am a witch you know; it's not exactly a preferred pairing by witch standards." Poe shrugged. "So? It's also not exactly against any laws or rules. My wife wasn't a witch and I didn't particularly care about that." "That is true. You two made a good pair. It's unfortunate that she's not here anymore."

Poe nodded. "True; but we're talking about you and Scroogie right now. I still don't see why you're so strung up about it." Magica let a frustrated groan. "Well you know, there's also the fact that we're ENEMIES so I highly doubt that he would see it any other way nor would his family. Then there's one other reason why it would be stupid even suggest such a thing…" She trailed off, taking a deep breath to calm herself as the conversation was getting her flustered. "And what's that?" She sighed.

"Goldie O'Gilt. I know he still has feelings for her. Not that I think that I couldn't compete because I very well could, in fact I'd be far better competition to her than Brigitta, but for what?" Poe was confused. "What do you mean?" "What do you mean 'what do you mean'?" Magica snapped. "He's not interested so what would the point be of trying to compete against O'Gilt? To get laughed right out of Duckburg? Provided he doesn't just assume it's another trick." She sighed in frustration.

"Let's just drop it okay? It's not worth it." "Well, if you're not chasing him and you're not going after the dime anymore you most likely won't ever see him again after tonight… You're really okay with that?" Poe looked at his sister with concern. She nodded slowly. "Why shouldn't I be… I really don't want the stupid dime anymore and I… just want to put it all behind me." Poe could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. She was trying so hard to convince herself of something she didn't want to believe; that her feelings for McDuck were pointless. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm surprised at you," He started, she shot him a surprised look.

"You're not the type to just give up on something like that. So, what's stopping you from just going after what you… That's it isn't it?" The realization hit him like a ton of bricks as he spoke. "You don't just have a crush on him… you really are in love with McDuck aren't you?" Magica's face flushed bright red and she turned away from her brother. "Am I…?" Poe almost wanted to facepalm at his sister's denseness. "It makes perfect sense; you truly love him and so would rather just run away and be miserable than cause him trouble or maybe you're just so scared by that truth that you refuse to say or do anything to acknowledge it." He said, now getting a bit irritated with his sister. "Believe me, I know what I'm talking about here; and I happen to think you need to pay more attention, Magica." He snapped. "Don't go snapping at me Poe! What are you on about anyway? What do you mean I need to pay more attention?" Now Poe let an irritated sigh. "Do you not see the way he looks at you? How can you be so oblivious? Magica, I'm pretty certain he has feelings for you too." Magica's eyes widened in surprise. "What makes you say something like that?" "Just pay attention when you're out tonight and do yourself a favor afterwards… talk to him about it!" "Poe! I can't do that!" "Yes. You. Can. Magica, you two would be good together, you're like two sides of the same coin, or should I say two sides of the same dime?" He laughed. "Just tell him how you feel." Magica sighed. "Fine, whatever."

Poe laughed a little as she turned back to the mirror, picked up her powder from the table beside the mirror and finished with her face, still fighting back the blush from their conversation. Poe left her to finish her makeup and was startled when he almost bumped into Scrooge.

"Sorry." He said. "It's alright. So, uh, is she ready yet?" Poe then noticed Scrooge was wearing his fine coattails and white tie, looking quite good himself. "She should be out in a minute. So, you two are really going out on an actual date huh?" Scrooge flustered a bit but maintained composure. "Yes, we are. We're kind of forced into it honestly; Brigitta insisted and didn't listen to a word I said. Typical of her." He chuckled. Poe laughed, then an idea came to him.

"Say, would you be opposed to a third wheel? It would be less of a date-date that way and I would appreciate the opportunity for a little fresh air since the kiddo is no longer in need of full-time nanny services." "I don't suppose that'd be an issue." Scrooge shrugged. "Good. Donald said he and Daisy were on their way and they should be here shortly so there will be plenty of eyes on the children." Poe said. Scrooge nodded. "Good. Well you'd better get ready because we're supposed to leave in a few minutes." No sooner had Scrooge finished his sentence than Poe recited a quick spell and was changed into a suit and tie with matching fedora. "Are you tagging along now Poe?"

They turned at the sound of Magica's voice and Poe grinned while Scrooge stood silent. "Yes, I figured if you two don't mind I'd come along as your chaperone!" He laughed. Magica hit him with her handbag. "That's not funny Poe!" Poe just continued to laugh and Scrooge shook his head to pull himself back to reality. "Uh, right. Shall we?" He held out his arm to Magica and she hesitantly took it. The trio then left just as Donald and Daisy arrived.

"Uncle Scrooge is going on a date with Magica DeSpell?!" Donald asked incredulously when Mrs. Beakley explained the situation. "Apparently so. I can't say I care much for the situation myself but she did get that cursed ring off of your nephew." "I think you should just trust that he knows what he's doing." Daisy said, trying reassure her boyfriend and his uncle's housekeeper. "To be totally honest, I don't either one of them really knows what they're doing." Lena laughed as she came downstairs and walked into the kitchen.


	12. Chapter 12

The Lounge was spacious with a large dance floor surrounded by tables and booths along the walls with plush and comfy-looking red velvet seats. To one side was a stage with a pair of singers and a full orchestral band playing 'Fly Me to the Moon'.

When they saw Scrooge, Magica and Poe, Brigitta and Rosolio enthusiastically waived them over to the table where they sat. "I'm so glad you could make it!" Brigitta squealed. "Ah, it's been a while Magica, good to see you." Rosolio's greeting was so platonic Magica was slightly stunned, she never thought she'd see the day he wasn't calling her some obnoxious pet name and insisting that she was his fiancée. "Good to see you two Rosolio. So, Brigitta said you two are kind of a… thing now?" Rosolio nodded and took Brigitta's hand. "Yes, we're getting there now." He chuckled.

Brigitta then looked at Poe. "Oh, I don't believe we got the chance to meet properly last time… I'm Brigitta MacBridge, an old friend of Scrooge's." She extended a hand to Poe. "And I am Poe DeSpell, Magica's twin brother. It's nice to meet you properly this time." He shook her hand with a laugh. "I didn't know you had a twin!" Magica laughed. "I do, and I swear we're nothing alike!" Poe rolled his eyes. "I hope you all don't mind having an extra." "Of course not!" Brigitta chirped. "The more the merrier Poe! Besides we haven't really gotten to speak in so long, it will be fun to catch up." Rosolio added.

Once they were all seated and had placed their orders Scrooge and Magica asked the question that had been plaguing them since Brigitta first told them she and Rosolio were seeing each other. "So how did you two become a thing?" Magica asked as she took a bite of her lobster. "Yes, how did that come about?" Scrooge added as he sipped his water. "Well after that… unfortunate event I decided to just stay here in Duckburg for a while," Rosolio explained between bites of his steak. "I figured I should just give you your space and take some time to come to terms with things." Magica nodded. "That's surprisingly thoughtful, for you." "Yes, well anyway, Brigitta offered to show me around since I was new here and well…" Rosolio blushed. "Things just sort of, clicked." Brigitta finished, also blushing and taking a sip of her water.

Magica leaned over to Scrooge. "They're so cute it's almost nauseating." She whispered to him. He softly chuckled. "And just what are you two whispering about over there?" Brigitta asked teasingly. "Nothing, nothing at all Brigitta." Scrooge said as he and Magica straightened up and returned to their food.

As the evening progressed, they enjoyed the delicious food and good conversation but Scrooge and Magica began to notice they were slowly being ganged up on as the topics always seemed to find a way to lead to teasing or insinuations about their relationship. Poe, Rosolio and Brigitta all seemed to be determined to find ways to point out that they looked good together, that they seemed to be enjoying each other's company, that they really were a couple.

" _Hello_! And just who might you be?" Magica turned to the voice behind her to see a young, lanky parrot with a mobile phone in his hand, clearly, he was doing something with it while talking to her, though his eyes were completely glued to her while his fingers tapped and flicked away on the screen. "Magica DeSpell…" She answered slowly, eyeing this newcomer suspiciously. "Nice to make your acquaintance…and I'm sure you've heard of me." He answered boldly. "No. Should I have?" She responded flatly. He looked shocked. "You don't know who I am? You've never heard of me?!"

Scrooge snickered as he just gawked in shock at Magica. "Again, no. Is there any reason I should know who you are?" "Well surely, you've heard of my company, Waddle; I'm the founder and CEO Mark Beaks!" He said, regaining some of his bluster. "What now?" He was stunned. "Wow, I guess you're just not much into the tech world, are you?" "No, I'm not. Now if you don't mind-" He finally noticed Scrooge snickering beside her. "Of course, you're hanging out with McDuck so that would explain a lot. Look, I can show you a much better time than that geezer, you and I would be so buzzworthy we would break the net!"

Scrooge nearly died right there as Magica just looked blankly at Beaks. "I have absolutely no idea what you just said." Beaks glared at Scrooge as he finished wheezing. "You'd better just move along Beaks, she's not your type." "And what makes you say that? Just look at her! She'd look great on my profile!" "Because, she's an old friend of mine and we go _way_ back if get my meaning." Beaks' expression quickly went from annoyed to disgusted. "Do you mean I've been flirting with an old lady? EW!" Scrooge once again died of laughter while Magica gave Beaks a look that could kill.

Poe leaned over to Scrooge. "Do you think one of us should step in before she hurts him?" Scrooge wiped a tear from his eye. "No way; to begin with even _I_ wouldn't dare mess with her when she's that angry and furthermore, he's so obnoxious I can't deny he deserves whatever he gets." Scrooge responded as they watched Magica get up and punch him square in the beak, knocking him to the floor.

 **SMACK**! The room fell silent after she hit him; aside from the long, soft squeal of Mark Beaks sliding across the floor from the force of Magica's punch. She wouldn't admit it but, she may have used him to vent her frustrations just a little.

Once he'd stopped moving, he got to his feet and bolted from the building, still tapping and swiping on the screen of his phone with one hand while holding his beak with other.

Magica sat back down gracefully and resumed eating her lobster. Scrooge was still snickering, Brigitta and Rosolio were stunned and Poe just looked disappointed. "What?" She asked, noting their expressions. "Was that really necessary?" Brigitta asked cautiously, suddenly glad she hadn't invoked such wrath from Magica during the engagement fiasco. "Yes, that seemed a little… excessive…" Rosolio added. "You heard what he said; and he was so loud the whole room heard it! He deserved it." Poe just shook his head. "That was so unladylike." Magica just rolled her eyes. "Whoever said Magica was a lady?" Scrooge snickered. She shot him a look. "Can you stop laughing at me now?!" "I'm sorry," Scrooge said between giggles.

"I'm not laughing at _you_ , I'm laughing because I agree with you!" "What?" "He completely deserved it; he's pretentious and obnoxious and has caused me plenty of trouble. I could never do that myself so I'm glad _you_ did." He explained and Magica found herself laughing a little as well. "Happy to help." "Suddenly I feel we may be creating monsters here." Poe mumbled to himself as he watched them.

Then something entirely unexpected happened; Goldie came striding in and quickly grabbed a seat at the table. "Hello Scroogie, I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" She looked around at everyone, observing that she'd clearly barged in on some sort of a date; Scrooge and Magica sitting together on side of the table, Brigitta and Rosolio on the opposite side with Poe at the left side and now her on the right. "No, not really. What brings you here Goldie?" Scrooge asked, offering her a spare glass of water that the waiter had brought earlier.

She took a sip. "I'm in a bit of bind actually." She said, setting the glass back on the table. "What happened?" Brigitta asked. "Well, I had received an invitation to some party that Glomgold was throwing tonight, something about celebrating his recent acquisition of an artifact from those new ruins…" Scrooge raised an eyebrow. "But he didn't even go to those ruins before they collapsed." Goldie sighed. "I know that… now. Turns out he had set a trap for me… he tricked me into going on a date with him!" She fumed. Scrooge and the others all laughed. "Let me guess, you planned to steal the artifact, didn't you?" Scrooge asked through his laughter. Goldie scowled. "Yes, and probably would've either gotten a pretty penny for it or just given it to you."

Soon the laughter died down and the small talk resumed for a while. Magica again felt that fire lit that she'd felt when Goldie showed up at the engagement party but took some comfort in the fact that she was seated between them so she could have some influence on the situation if she felt it necessary. Of course, this would just prove her point to Poe that Scrooge was much more interested in Goldie than her.

Scrooge felt bad for Goldie and they all realized she'd ditched Glomgold and was trying hide from him but still, part of him felt a little annoyed at the interruption. He had been hoping to spend the evening enjoying the double date and the time with Magica before she left; somehow, he just knew that she wouldn't come back and he couldn't help wanting to avoid that for just a little longer. In fact, he was beginning to think that he should muster up the courage to just tell her how he felt before she left… after all, if what he'd heard her and Poe saying before they left was true then she did feel the same way didn't she?

"Ah-ha! There you are!" They heard Glomgold shout from across the room. "Oh, fiddlesticks! Quick, Scrooge dance with me!" Goldie jumped up and before he knew what was happening Scrooge found himself being dragged out on to the dance floor. "Well I guess that's that." Poe said, sipping his water. Magica just sat and watched as Scrooge and Goldie started dancing, feeling a mixture of disappointment and irritation. ' _How dare she interrupt our date and try to steal him away like this!... Not that this was a real date or really meant anything… but still!'_ The thoughts ran through her mind.

Then Glomgold took Scrooge's seat. "Stupid McDuck! Stealing MY date!" He fumed. Magica just briefly glanced at him as she sipped her water. "What about Goldie?" She asked. "Ah, she's been playing hard to get with me for years; I think she's about ready give in; if McDuck would just stay out of the way!" They all choked back laughter; Glomgold was in either very deep denial or very deep delusion and either way he wasn't getting anywhere with Goldie. As she looked back up and eyed Scrooge and Goldie, a wicked idea occurred to Magica.

"Say Flintheart, has it ever occurred to you that maybe you're coming on too strong, a bit desperate even?" She asked, her voice taking on a more dangerous and sultry tone. "Oh no…" Poe muttered, seeing the glint in his sister's eyes and knowing that she was probably about to open a can of worms and ruin everything. Of course, maybe that was her intention, to ruin everything so she wouldn't have to face up to her feelings for Scrooge. "What are you getting at DeSpell?" Glomgold eyed her skeptically. She gingerly swirled her water. "I'm just saying that maybe you should take a different approach, maybe make her realize that if she keeps playing hard to get then she won't get anywhere." His expression lightened with understanding.

"I think I see what you're getting at." He said. She looked at him with a bit of mischief in her dark eyes. "Good, shall we dance then?" She asked, extending her hand. He quickly took it. "Yes, let's!" They then went out on to the dance floor just as the band started to play 'Save the Last Dance for Me'. "What just happened? Did she just use him?" Brigitta asked, slightly confused. Poe sighed. "Yes, she has just played the poor chump." "Like a fiddle." Rosolio added. "Oh dear, this can't end well, and after all we've done to push them together." Brigitta took a drink of her water and they all just sat back to watch the impending disaster unfold.

Scrooge and Goldie danced and swayed to the music, him looking a bit distracted and her knowing exactly why. Just as she was about say something to him about Magica she saw his expression change from mildly distracted to altogether annoyed. "Scroogie? Is something wrong?" She followed his gaze and saw just what was wrong, Magica was dancing with Glomgold; and they looked like they were having a good time.

Goldie knew only too well that bothered Scrooge. After all, he and Magica had come together on a date so of course one could argue the principle of the matter; She was Scrooge's date and he was hers but Goldie knew that it was more than that.

She'd known for a long time that Scrooge harbored feelings for the witch, ever since one of his Christmas parties several years back. She had secretly intended to take one his recently acquired treasures off his hands while he mingled with his guests and she saw it when she snuck into the money bin; the Moonquartz prominently displayed beside old number one. She had learned about Moonquartz from a young apprentice sorcerer she'd met once so she knew immediately what it had to mean and who it had to be from. She also had noticed that he no longer had her picture on his desk and knew right then and there that had moved on and was well and truly over her; which was all for the best as she'd realized long before he had that they just wouldn't work, although that didn't mean it still didn't sting a little. True, she'd thought at the time that he was nuts for developing a crush on Magica DeSpell but now however, she could see that the idea wasn't so crazy after all.

Goldie was promptly pulled out of her thoughts as their pace quickened and she was completely caught off guard by what happened next.

Magica and Glomgold were dancing and neither one could keep their eyes off Scrooge and Goldie for more than a few moments. "Argh, she's not even looking!" Glomgold fumed. "No, she seems a bit to focused on someone else." Magica remarked icily. "And what about you? You should pay more attention to where you're puttin' your feet." He scoffed. "Oh, I'm sorry." She said sarcastically as she stepped on his foot again. "Hey! Don't forget this was your idea DeSpell!" "Well clearly it's not working." She scoffed. "What? You want McDuck to come sweep you off your feet? Is that why you keep staring at him with goo-goo eyes?" "Shut Up Flintheart!" Magica spat as he laughed at her. "As if that would happen, he's too busy trying to-Oof!"

Suddenly, there was a brief moment of chaos as Scrooge and Goldie spun into Glomgold and Magica and the next thing Magica knew she was dancing with Scrooge and Goldie had been left with Glomgold. "What just happened?" Glomgold asked in confusion. "I think I've just been dumped!" Goldie laughed, watching Scrooge take off across the floor with Magica. She sighed. "Well come on then Flinty, let's go sit down." She said, walking to table where Brigitta, Rosolio and Poe where watching and equally stunned at the unexpected turn of events.

"Well, I'd say old Scroogie seems to be rather bold tonight." Poe chuckled. "Yes, I'd say so." Goldie agreed. "So, wait, he _does_ like DeSpell?" Glomgold asked, still very much out of the loop. "Oh, he doesn't _just_ like her Flinty." Goldie giggled. "Are you okay with that?" Brigitta asked. "I mean, I know you were the most serious with Scrooge, more so even than me…" Goldie just smiled, a bittersweet smile. "It was so serious he actually proposed to me once…" She said. "What!?" Brigitta gasped. "Uh-huh. I turned him down." "WHAT?!" Brigitta gasped again. "I can't deny there were fireworks there but… we wouldn't have worked. I honestly can't see that we could have ever made a marriage work. Of course, he didn't realize that at first. Not for a while I don't think."

Goldie sighed as she recalled her past with Scrooge. "It might have been all rosy at first but I really don't think it would have lasted; we're just too competitive with each other, that's not something that makes for a solid commitment like marriage." "So, then you're really okay with him being interested in someone else?" Brigitta asked again. She nodded. "Of course, I am. I want Scroogie to be happy and I could see it that night at their engagement party; he's head-over heels and I could never compete with her, nor do I want to. Surprisingly, they complement each other well." She giggled. "Now I feel even worse; you're handling it so graciously and I acted like a complete fool." Brigitta sighed. "We all handle things differently, besides it's all water under the bridge now so don't worry about it." Goldie said reassuringly.

As they watched Magica and Scrooge an idea came to Poe and he grinned mischievously. "You know, I think they need the mood to be properly set and I think 'Something Stupid' would do it quite nicely." "Ooh, would you mind if I join you?" Goldie asked, catching on to his plan. "Please do." He replied as they stood. The others just looked at them quizzically. "Wait, what do you mean 'something stupid'?" Brigitta asked as they headed for the stage.

Poe and Goldie spoke to the band leader and the singers for a moment and procured permission to hijack the stage for a number. Poe used his magic to position a stool and borrowed a guitar from one the band members. He got up on the stool, leaning his crutches against it and tuned the guitar while Goldie positioned the mics. Then he began to play and the band followed their lead as they both started to sing.

" _I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me. And if we go someplace to dance, I know there's a chance you won't be leaving with me."_ Their voices harmonized perfectly as he strummed the guitar and the band played along. " _And afterwards we drop into a quiet little place to have a drink or two. And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid like 'I love you'_ " They crooned.

"So, what was that Scroogie?" Magica asked as they danced. "What? I just figured you didn't want to dance with Glomgold." She gave a sly grin. "But I was the one who asked him to dance." "Well then do you want to go dance with him again?" He looked mildly annoyed and Magica couldn't help softly giggling. "Not really." She snuggled against him as they swayed to the music, deciding to just enjoy the rest of the evening, especially now that she was dancing with Scrooge.

To heck with it, she was enjoying being on a date with him and couldn't help but be absolutely amused at how he'd come out of nowhere and swept her away from Glomgold, leaving Goldie to deal with him. She honestly didn't even care when she heard her brother singing, even though she knew exactly what he was up to. She'd made up her mind to stop fighting it, at least for tonight. Scrooge seemed to be perfectly fine with spending the evening dancing with her so why not?

Scrooge knew he shouldn't let it bother him so much, he knew that realistically he was being completely foolish but, Magica seemed perfectly fine dancing with him and in all honestly, she seemed specifically happy that he'd pulled her away from Glomgold and abandoned Goldie to him. While he did feel a bit guilty about that he couldn't deny that he preferred dancing with Magica. He found himself taking the opportunity to admire her in her dress as he spun her; it fit just right and she looked stunning in it.

The more he thought about it, the more he looked at her, Scrooge knew he needed to tell her how he felt. Even if it was crazy, he felt more and more strongly that he needed to just take the chance that he'd heard them right when he had stood outside her door earlier; he'd intended to knock and ask if Magica was ready but then heard her talking to Poe and felt he shouldn't interrupt. But he could swear he'd heard her say how she felt about him; that she loved him. The very idea sent his mind spinning and his heart into his throat but if it was true… He needed to know and the only way to find out was to ask her, to tell her how he felt. If he was wrong; well it wouldn't be the first time he'd had his heart broken and at least he could get any ideas about her out of his head.

After one last slow dance Scrooge decided it was a good enough time to leave. "Magica…" He whispered. She had rested her chin on his shoulder and her beak in his neck feathers while they danced to the slow song and reluctantly pulled away just enough to look him in the eyes. "What?" "Let's go home now. Come on." He pulled away, taking her by the hand and leading her outside where he hailed a cab. "Why are we leaving?" She asked, trying to hide the remnants of the comfortable daze slow dancing with him and put her in. "Because we need to talk, alone." He said softly. Now she was fully back to reality. What did he want to talk about and why did he sound so… could it be? Could it be possible that Poe was right?!

Magica's mind spun a hundred miles an hour as she took in Scrooge's expression and tone of voice, recalling her brother's words from earlier and now that she was paying more attention Scrooge looked… positively twitterpated and nervous!

They both sat awkwardly silent on the ride back to the mansion and when they'd arrived everyone had already gone to bed. Scrooge looked at the grandfather clock in the foyer as Magica took off her heels so as to be quiet when she walked further in to the house. "It's almost midnight already, I didn't realize how late it had gotten." Scrooge whispered as he took her by the hand and led her to the library.

Once inside he lit the fireplace and stoked it's flames for a moment before turning back to Magica and taking her hand again. "Magica," He swallowed hard, trying to choke down his nerves. He could almost laugh at himself, nervous like a young man confessing first love. "What?" She asked, trying to hide her own nervousness. "I… I have feelings for you." He finally said. She swallowed hard now. "Well, of course you do Scroogie, I have feelings for you too…" She started, trying to keep a grip on herself and the situation; fear starting corrupt her judgement.

She looked away from him so she could focus on her words. "Hatred, loathing, detestation…" She moved away from him, still with her back to him, feeling absolutely stupid. He could hear the slight nervous quiver in her voice and suspected that she was trying to avoid the subject; somehow, he couldn't think of anything other than how she was actually kind of cute when she was this nervous. Actually, seeing her that nervous, as nervous if not more nervous than him, made him feel a bit better.

"No, I think you know exactly what I mean Magica… those aren't the feelings I'm talking about, not that I haven't loathed and detested you at times." He chuckled, grinning at her nervous reaction. Now Magica knew she was going to have a hard time dealing with this situation. He was trying to confess his feelings for her and now he was starting to sport that stupid, smug and teasing grin that was so infuriating, so annoying, and so utterly attractive. She slowly took a step back, trying to put some distance between them so she could try to get her head together. "I think you're crazy McDuck." She muttered as he took a step closer. She took a few more steps back, trying to keep some distance between them.

She wasn't just nervous, Magica was actually a little scared. He could see it in her eyes, along with the hope and excitement hiding behind the fear and apprehension. In that moment he knew he had to have heard right, knew how she felt about him. Scrooge felt his nerves relax as he became more certain about the situation. "Magica, I do believe I've fallen in love with you and I think you love me too." She froze for a moment; a mixture of panic and joy washing over her. He continued. "That is true isn't it? I know I shouldn't have been eavesdropping but-"

She tried to speak but all words were lost to her, she realized he'd overheard her talking to Poe earlier that night; after a moment the only sound she could muster came out. She just started screaming. Like a pathetic, humiliated, panic-stricken fool.

Scrooge was stunned at first by her reaction but after a moment all he could do was fight back his own laughter as he tried to shush her. She ran from him, around the table until Mrs. Beakley and Donald threw open the door to see what was going on. They just stood there in pure confusion as Magica fled the room, still screaming, while Scrooge just died laughing. They looked at Scrooge, then at each other, and decided they didn't even want to know what had happened and slowly backed out of the library and returned to their rooms.

Scrooge just continued to laugh hysterically, wondering if he should be offended by Magica's reaction.

Poe came in to the manor, and heard his sister screaming and saw her fleeing up the stairs to her room. He followed her, alarmed and wanting to be sure she was okay. He entered her room without knocking as she slumped down on the bed, now silent. "What happened? What did he do?" He asked, ready to go clock Scrooge.

"Poe, he… said he loved me!" She wailed. His expression instantly shifted to confusion. "Then why are you in here and why were you screaming like a frightened fool?" "Because I am a fool! Oh, why did I do that?!" She lamented. Poe was still confused. "He says he loves you and you run away screaming like a banshee? I just don't get it." "I panicked! I freaked out! Poe, he heard us talking in here so he's known at least for the last few hours that I… Oh, Poe what have I done?!" Poe couldn't help himself… he started to laugh.

"Poe! This isn't funny! How can I even face him again after that?!" She covered her face with a pillow and groaned into it. "That was the single most humiliating moment in my life!" Poe tried to contain his laughter. "You sound like some overly dramatic teenager!" She hit him with the pillow. "You're not helping Poe!" He chuckled as the pillow fell to the floor. "Just take a deep breath and go talk to him." "I can't do that now! He's in there laughing at me… Why am I acting like such a childish fool?" She sighed. "Just go talk to him. Go tell him you love him already!" Poe laughed.

She picked up the pillow and put it back on the bed. "How can I even look him in the eye now?" She sighed. "Because my dear sister, you're Magica DeSpell the Shadow Queen and you don't run away like a frightened deer. Now act like it and go confess to the man you love for peat sakes!" She scowled at him. "Why do you have to make sense?" "Because I couldn't even speak a coherent sentence when my wife first told me she loved me so I understand exactly what you're going through. It feels humiliating now but later you'll both look back at it and laugh together. Now stop dawdling already." He gently pushed her toward the door and she slowly opened it and headed back to the library.

Scrooge had stopped laughing and sat down in a reading chair by the fireplace. He didn't feel like going to bed just yet, he just wanted to sit and ponder whether or not he'd made a mistake. Magica's reaction had been one of the funniest things he'd ever witnessed but what did it really mean? Was she actually put off? Had he misunderstood what he'd heard and misread her behavior? He sighed and leaned back into the chair. As he sat with his eyes closed, still trying to figure out what exactly had happened, he was startled out of his thoughts by a quiet voice behind him, a voice he was surprised to hear again so soon.

"Scrooge?" Magica whispered, seeing him in the chair and wondering if he was asleep. Part of her had hoped he was so she could just go back to her room and pretend that nothing had ever happened, at least until morning; but he was still awake and startled by her voice. "Magica!" He sat up straight, turning to face her and could see in the fire's glow that she was still very red-faced from before.

"Magica, I don't know why you came back in here but… I'm sorry; I guess I just-" She cut him off. "No, I'm the one that needs to apologize, that… was embarrassing… _really_ embarrassing." She softly chuckled. He laughed a little. "You forgot funny; that was one of the funniest things I've ever seen." He snickered. She swatted his shoulder. "Oh, shut it." He continued to quietly snigger for a moment. "I was right; I came in here to get laughed at." She deadpanned. "No, I just… sorry." He stopped sniggering. "It's fine, it's not like I came in here to say anything important, just keep laughing Scroogie." Her voice still sounded somewhat serious but the playfulness in her eyes and in the grin on her beak showed she was teasing him.

He stood from the chair and quieted his laughter completely, now very curious. "Okay, okay, what did you want to say?" She almost lost her nerve again, seeing his hopeful eyes staring deeply into hers however, just made the words come more easily. "You weren't wrong Scroogie…" She said softly, wrapping her arms around him. She felt his arms embrace her in return and his breath tickled her ear as he responded. "Sneaky witch…" "Old fool…" They softly laughed as they pulled apart just enough to gaze into each other's eyes for a moment before sharing what had to be the sweetest kiss either had ever experienced.

It felt wonderful to finally acknowledge the feelings that had built up between them, to explore them without any pretense clouding them like before or fear of rejection. They both just lingered and enjoyed the moment, the almost electric feeling the kiss caused in them; because this time it was real.

After a few moments they pulled apart, not completely, but just enough to break the kiss. Magica sighed into his arms, feeling an intense mixture of relief and happiness. Scrooge held her close and felt himself grinning like a love-struck fool.

They were both so lost in their own little world that the venomous voice in the shadows nearly gave them both heart attacks.

"Well now, inn't that sweet; so sweet it's nauseating."

The reporter from that afternoon stepped out from the shadows, removing her thick glasses as her appearance slowly changed; Her hair turned dark, her feathers turned violet and she now wore a plain crimson dress with equally crimson bangle bracelets on her wrists.

"Just who are you what are you doing in my home!" Scrooge demanded. Magica knew, at least what the woman actually was and why she was there, there was only one possible explanation for the presence of another witch…

She smiled, a smile wicked and cold and spoke with her Louisiana accent. "My name's Rochelle LaQuack and I'm here on behalf of the Elders to fetch you…" She fixed her eyes on Magica. "Of course, I have to bring the amulet as well…" She held up the amulet that still had the dime-size hole for Scrooge's number one in its face.

"You stole my amulet!" Magica spat, anger now rising in her; this little upstart had to have been the one who invaded her home on Mt. Vesuvius and now she had the gall to break into Scrooge's house and threaten her!

"Yes, I did; now it's mine. Too bad you didn't get the replacement I left you in those ruins… Oh well, it still provided some quality entertainment!" She laughed wickedly. "YOU put that ring there?! You're to blame for what happened to my nephew!?" Scrooge bellowed, his anger flaring up as well at the thought of his poor nephew being victimized by this callous witch.

She just ignored his outburst. "But I need that pesky little dime too…" She said, now eyeing Scrooge like a vulture. "Fine! Let's just go get this over with then." Magica stepped away from Scrooge, deciding to just face the music and hopefully give the Elders an earful. But Rochelle just laughed wickedly. "Oh no, I think I have a better idea; something much more fun… I'm gonna make sure you come to the Elders and I'm gonna take that dime... by taking him with me!" She cackled as she recited a quick spell and threw a smoke bomb that unleashed a massive plume of smoke with a loud bang.

"Scrooge!" Magica choked through the smoke, unable to stop Rochelle from whisking him away.

Once the smoke cleared Magica was alone in the room. Until everyone came crashing in to find out what the loud noises were.

"What did you do to Uncle Scrooge?!" Donald demanded when they saw Scrooge was nowhere to be seen. They all gave her accusatory looks as they studied the scene, all except Poe and Lena. "Come on now…" Poe started, moving beside his sister. "I'm sure all is well right?" Magica shook her head. "No. Scrooge is gone." "What did you do to our Uncle?!" Huey demanded and she could swear she saw a hint of hurt in his angry little eyes, like he actually felt betrayed. All three of the boys looked that way.

"Come on guys, stop jumping to conclusions." Lena said, trying to defend her aunt. "It is kind of my fault though…" Magica explained, Lena sighed in frustration. "Not helping Aunt Magica." "But it's true. He was abducted by another witch because of me. However, I don't intend to let her get away with it."


	13. Chapter 13

Once the smoke cleared and he could see clearly again Scrooge found himself in an unfamiliar cabin, the sounds of water shifting, toads croaking and crickets chirping did nothing to ease his nerves and he saw the witch LaQuack's wicked and icy gaze on him.

"Where are we!?" He demanded. She just laughed coldly. "Right now you're my cabin, or is your eye sight failing you." She quipped.

He looked around for a weapon and instead found a large, duck-shaped mass behind him, holding his cane.

"What is this monstrosity?!" Scrooge took a step back from the towering, earthen duck monster. Rochelle laughed. "That 'monstrosity' as you call him, is my golem, or my cameraman, or whatever I need him to be."

She watched Scrooge attempt to get his cane back from the golem with amusement for a few minutes before raising a hand.

"Alright now, enough fun and games… for now." She said coldly and Scrooge froze in place, turning to face her, expression not betraying in the least how afraid he actually was. "What do you mean by that?" Rochelle laughed wickedly again. "I'm gonna make sure DeSpell has plenty of fun with you when she sees you again."

Before Scrooge could do anything Rochelle raised her arms and chanted a spell, all the while her ice cold eyes bore down on him. When she was finished he stood still as a statue, his expression blank.

"Now, take your cane from the golem." Her smile darker as Scrooge did what she said without a word. "Good… now, take a swing at him." Scrooge did as instructed and the golem blocked the swing with a grunt. Rochelle cackled wickedly and beamed in dark anticipation. "Oh, yes… DeSpell will have lots of fun with you…"


	14. Chapter 14

Although she knew what the answer was going to be, Magica still asked that everyone stay and let her handle the mess she had unintentionally gotten Scrooge caught in but of course, no one would agree to just sit back while Scrooge was in trouble; however Magica couldn't help feeling slightly hurt that they all still seemed to hold her solely accountable.

That wasn't new by any means but Magica had found herself getting kind of attached to the boys after the pillow fight those months ago and then helping Huey get free of that awful ring… she realized as she watched them prepare for a rescue attempt that she'd gotten pretty comfortable around them and how fragile that small bit of trust they'd had in her really was; that they obviously had been expecting her to follow old routines and betray Scrooge as soon as she found the opportunity.

Scrooge. The thought of him being trapped by Rochelle or even the elders weighed heavily on her; she needed to get him back, even if it meant facing whatever punishment the elders would give her for refusing the task they had given her.

Once everyone was ready, they suspiciously eyed Magica, Poe and Lena stood beside her supportively, and Mrs. Beakley asked her if she had any idea where Scrooge may have been taken.

"She said she was sent by the elder witches so most likely he's with them. I can take us all there with a transportation spell. You're all certain you want to go? It may be significantly dangerous…" Magica asked, wanting to be sure they were still sure.

"Of course, we're going to go save Mr. McDuck." Mrs. Beakley replied. "Yeah, we're not gonna leave Mr. McDee in the hands of some scary witch!" Launchpad added. Donald and the triplets all agreed and then Webby spoke. "We're stronger together so naturally we're going with you to save Scrooge!"

Lena smiled at her friend. "You're right, thanks Webbs." Poe smiled. "The girl is right; we're all in this together so we need to put our differences aside and work with each other to save Scrooge." "Right. Well, let's be off then." Mrs. Beakley said curtly. Magica nodded and cast the transportation spell.

"This is so ridiculous. She technically completed her task so I don't see what the problem is." Hexa sighed as she and her sisters tried to plead Magica's case to the elder witches, who just sat in their seats looking unamused.

"She was supposed to bring the amulet back as proof." One said. "But she didn't." The second added. "In fact, she returned the dime. She blatantly refused her task and all because of her soft heart." The third scoffed.

"Okay, it's true Magi has always been a softie but really she is a wicked witch in her own way." Castandra tried to defend her sister. "Exactly; I mean just give her one more chance and I'm sure she'll come through." Winnicent added.

The DeSpell sisters may have agreed with elders about their sister but even among witches loyalty means something and they couldn't, in any sort of conscience good or otherwise, allow their sister to be punished by the elders without at least trying to defend her.

"Silence!" The first elder snapped. "Magica DeSpell has failed repeatedly and we've given her multiple 'second chances' already." The third elder rolled her eyes. "Clearly we've made some oversights." The second elder crossed her arms. "No more, Magica DeSpell will answer for her failures."

The DeSpell sisters all shrank back, realizing their pleas weren't helping. Suddenly there was a loud bang and a large plume of smoke behind them. They turned around and saw Rochelle with her golem and Scrooge in tow. Scrooge's expression was still blank, as though his body was just vacant.

"Magica DeSpell should be here soon; and I have the amulet." Rochelle said, bowing respectfully to the elders. "Why is McDuck here?" The second elder asked, raising a confused eyebrow. "And what did you do to him?" Hexa asked, trying to hide any trace of concern from her voice. Rochelle chuckled coldly. "He's my toy now; and I expect he's _more_ than enough motivation for DeSpell to come here and face the music." She grinned wickedly while demonstrating her control over Scrooge.

"And what makes you think Magica will come for him?" Hexa asked skeptically. "Because, it seems she loves him, so of course she's going to come for him," Rochelle looked at Scrooge disapprovingly. "Don't know what she sees in this old buzzard though, don't seem worth much to me." "He's worth plenty." Castandra scoffed, annoyed with Rochelle's attitude. "Well, yes, plenty of money; but I wouldn't reckon much else." Rochelle shrugged. "Although, I'm gonna have fun watching her reaction when I turn him loose on her." "You wouldn't!" Castandra gasped before she could stop herself. Rochelle just cackled coldly.

Winnicent looked at the elders. "You're going to allow this?" They conversed with one another for a moment before any of them answered the question. "It wasn't what we intended and we will discuss it with LaQuack later but for now… we'll just see how it goes." Winnicent and her sisters hid their shock and outrage, knowing it would only cause more trouble but they all began planning potential revenge on Rochelle for such an under-handed stunt. Loyalty among witch sisters also meant something, even if they didn't always like each other or get along.

Then Magica, Poe, Lena, and Scrooge's family all appeared in the elder's domain.

"Alright, I'm here… what are you three doing here?" Magica asked, surprised to see her sisters. "We're here trying defend you." Castandra explained. "You'd better be grateful." Hexa quipped, the hints of concern easily detected. Magica nodded. "Thanks, but I'll deal with it now."

Suddenly, she was nearly knocked over by Donald, who'd caught sight of Rochelle and Scrooge. "You let go of my uncle Scrooge! You, no good, rotten…" He went into an indecipherable rant and Magica pushed him aside. "Shut it you, looney duck!" She then turned to Rochelle. "What did you do to him?"

Rochelle grinned wickedly. "He's my pet, and if you want him back then you'll need to fight for him DeSpell." Magica's eyes narrowed as she met Rochelle's cold stare. "Fine, let's have at it then." Rochelle laughed. "I'm afraid you misunderstand… I never said you had to fight me…" She looked at Scrooge. "Do me a favor and get rid of her if you please."

Scrooge then launched forward at Magica and swung his cane. She quickly summoned her own staff and blocked the hit. "You will pay for this LaQuack…" She hissed, pushing back against Scrooge. He swung again and she parried, then swung her staff only to be blocked by Scrooge.

Everyone just watched, Beakley, Launchpad and Donald making a few attempts to go at Rochelle, who just summoned more golems to fight everyone off while Scrooge and Magica clashed as they had many times before; although this time Scrooge wasn't holding back as he'd done before, not being above taking cheap shots which Magica managed to block every time. No matter the circumstances, Magica could still match his movements and read him easily; but the same could still be said of him.

Eventually, Magica halted, her back to Rochelle, huffing to catch her breath. Scrooge stood, blankly watching her. She let a small chuckle, he was still a gentleman even now, go figure. After a moment Magica hung her head and lowered her staff. "This is going nowhere."

Rochelle eyed the back of Magica's head victoriously. "Are you giving up? What's the matter, can't bear to hurt him? You're such a weakling, so soft and pathetic. Let me put you out of your misery then!" Rochelle shot a magical attack at Magica, not seeing the smug grin spreading across her face.

"Hey Scroogie, heads up!" Magica suddenly called out as she easily dodged the attack and it flew toward Scrooge. Everyone was silently horrified that she was letting Scrooge take the attack… for about two seconds before Scrooge grinned and swung his cane; it illuminated as it made contact with the crackling magic bolt and sent it back at Rochelle, who barely managed to cancel it out in time.

"WHAT? How did you do that, I don't remember enchanting your cane!" She shrieked in surprise. Magica turned to face her, grinning smugly and an equally smug expression spread across Scrooge's face. "You didn't. _She_ did." He said, nodding toward Magica. "What…" Rochelle was beyond confused. "But you're supposed to be my puppet…"

They couldn't help it, Scrooge and Magica just started laughing out loud. "Oh, _come on_! Just who do you think you're dealing with here? A couple of amateurs like you?" Magica cackled. "Of course, I took precautions after Castandra told me what was happening."

Scrooge nodded. "After Magica explained it all to me I agreed to let her cast some protective spells." He looked at his family. "Obviously, we said nothing and I do apologize for that but I didn't want to alarm anyone; after you abducted me, I just went along with it and played my part as long as was necessary so you wouldn't go after anyone else."

Magica, still focused on Rochelle, laughed more. "The thing I can't believe is that you didn't even notice that your spell didn't stick! And you say _I'm_ pathetic!" Scrooge just grinned proudly. "My superb acting had something to do with it; you have no idea how hard it was not to react to some of the things she said." Magica nodded. "Point taken."

Rochelle's expression grew darker with every word until she'd finally had enough. "Curse you both! How dare you make a fool of me!" She screeched as she launched more attacks at them.

"Up for a game of badminton Scroogie?" Magica asked. "Sounds like fun." He replied and they both began to use their respective weapons, his enchanted cane and her staff, to return the attacks to their sender.

Everyone just stood, either entertained, shocked, or both, and watched Scrooge and Magica run circles around Rochelle. Even when she summoned more golems, they took the slow-moving brutes down easily, the enchantment on Scrooge's cane allowing him to easily knock off heads or limbs, leaving piles of dirt everywhere; in fact, Scrooge's lack of any other magic made no difference given his speed and quick-thinking so with Magica's magic the two proved to be quite the duo on the battle field.

"Okay, fine. So, I couldn't control Scrooge, but I still have the amulet and the dime! I'll use that to finish this little farce!" Rochelle held up the amulet and the dime. Scrooge just looked at her smugly. "You mean the dime I was wearing when you abducted me?" "Yes, that dime you, geriatric fowl!" She snapped, placing the dime in the amulet and attempting to use it… it gave absolutely no response.

Magica yawned. "Are you done grandstanding yet?" "Why isn't this piece of junk working!" She screeched. "Oh, come now… surely you didn't expect to actually get your hands on Scrooge's number one so easily, did you?" Magica's grin became even more smug as she pulled the number one from inside her dress by a cord around her own neck. "WHAT?!" Rochelle sputtered. Scrooge just shrugged. "I figured that given the circumstances I would rather trust my witch than take a risk."

Rochelle's face began to turn red with anger. She was furious that they had made her look foolish at every turn, and in front of the elders no less. This had to end, now. Just before she could cast another spell, she heard Magica's taunting voice.

"Hey Rochelle," she turned to her only to see her cursed ring flying toward her, springing to life, and latching itself to her finger, causing her to start uncontrollably slapping herself in the face. "Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself." Magica cackled wickedly.

"You'll-" **slap!** "pay-" **slap!** "for this!" **slap!** Magica just grinned evilly. "Oh, I'm terribly frightened." She and Scrooge then high-fived as she used her magic to retrieve the amulet from Rochelle, who proceeded to retreat with another loud bang and plume of smoke.

"You know, she has quite a bark but very little bite." Scrooge said, a smug and thoroughly amused grin on his face. Magica just chuckled.

"Again, I find these two together mildly questionable." Poe grinned "They're not _together_." Donald huffed, refusing to admit the obvious. "I certainly hope not…" Mrs. Beakley said slowly, realizing what was going on wasn't so simple as a feud anymore.

The victory against Rochelle was short lived as the elders reminded Magica of their presence and her situation.

"That was quite the show you two put on." The first elder said with brief applause. "LaQuack failed miserably and will be reprimanded for her actions when she can bring herself to return." The third elder laughed. "In the meantime, there's still the matter of your indiscretion DeSpell." The second said and all eyes were laid on Magica.

Magica stepped away from Scrooge. "Fine. But this has nothing to do with anyone else." "I'm not going anywhere." Scrooge said firmly. He remembered what happened last time they were angry with Magica and he didn't think they would settle for turning her into a fairy this time. Magica sighed. "Let me guess, no one else will leave either?"

It was pretty much unanimous that on one was going to leave Magica to her fate; surprisingly even her sisters refused to leave.

"Fine then." Magica said and then waved her hand and chanted a spell that created a barrier around everyone and Scrooge, preventing anything from entering or leaving. She turned back to the elders, removed the dime from the cord and placed it into the amulet. "Technically I have now completed my task, I'm here and I have the amulet." She said.

Scrooge felt a stinging in his heart; was she seriously going to hand over the amulet to the elder witches? Was she betraying him now? Had she really gone as far as all that had happened recently just to get the dime?

"You think that counts for anything now?" The third elder asked. "Surely you don't think that earns you any forgiveness." The second said. "You still failed and it's clear that you only stand before us with the amulet in hand because of LaQuack's actions." The first said.

Magica sighed again and gathered all her courage for what she knew she had to do next. "You still want to punish me for failure? If you had just summoned me, I would have faced my punishment willingly but instead a line was crossed. For that I will accept no punishment." She said boldly.

"Are you challenging us DeSpell?" The first elder asked incredulously. The second and third elders just laughed. "Silly little witch! What makes you think a failure like you has the right to even speak to us like that, let alone challenge us?"

"MAGICA! Are you crazy?!" Poe cried. "She's gone totally crackers!" Hexa gasped. "Have you LOST YOUR MIND?!" Castandra screeched. Winnicent just shook her head.

"Poe, I know I can trust you if I really have lost my mind." Magica said, not breaking eye contact with the elders and suddenly both Poe and Scrooge realized why she'd raised the barrier; to protect them.

She was doing this to protect them and to give everyone the chance to get away instead of getting caught in any sort of crossfire. Scrooge now felt panic, knowing Magica was likely going to get seriously hurt, or worse, and all because of him and everyone else there. Poe was also afraid for his sister but knew exactly what she wanted of him, she really meant she knew she could trust him to get everyone out if necessary, especially because Lena was there and she knew he would put his daughter's safety first, no matter what. Poe had never been a particularly evil warlock and as much as she tried to deny it, Magica wasn't really anymore evil than he was. She really picked a heck of a way to demonstrate that though.

"Lena? This is bad isn't it?" Huey whispered to Lena. She nodded. "Really bad. No one challenges the elders. Ever." "So, your Aunt is basically risking her life right now?" Webby gulped. "Yeah." Lena said quietly.

Lena scooted closer to her dad, doing her best to maintain her cool despite knowing the severity of the situation. Huey felt guilty… it didn't take a genius to figure out that Magica was trying to protect them and that the 'line' crossed was that witch Rochelle being allowed to go after them to get to Magica. He made a mental note to apologize for blaming her if things ended well.

"I stand firm." Magica said, placing the complete amulet around her neck and raising her staff. "Very well then. If, by some miracle, you are victorious against us then all will be forgiven." The first elder said. The other two nodded. Magica nodded. "Agreed."

Then the elders proceeded to attack her with powerful spells.

Magica did her best to parry and dodge the elders' attacks, while casting her own attack spells, most of which either did little or missed completely and ricocheted off the walls in the elder's cavernous domain. The battle waged on for what felt like an eternity and it was obvious that Magica was getting tired while the elders seemed to have limitless energy. Magica still continued to fight however, even after being knocked down a few times by the elders' magic.

"Why don't you just admit defeat? You're not winning this fight DeSpell." The second elder said after Magica had once again been knocked down by one of their spells. "You can't hardly even hit us, how can you expect a victory?" The first added. Magica got back to her feet and laughed. "You're assuming I intended to hit you." She smirked.

"What?" The elders questioned in unison, truly confused by her words.

Scrooge was equally confused until he noticed it; the lighting had become brighter than the sparse light provided by the torches on the walls and when he looked up he saw why, Magica's barrier was a dome and several of her spells had been lodged strategically in the top of it, illuminating the area and causing everyone to cast multiple shadows.

Magica took the amulet in her hand and it began to glow with its pale turquoise light. "Even if you use the amulet's power it still won't be enough!" The third elder snapped. Magica just continued to smirk. "I've done some research on this amulet, it's creator left several journal entries in the pages of his spell book. The amulet has no power of its own." The elders laughed. "You're more foolish than we thought DeSpell! You're lying to us!"

"No, I'm not. The amulet has no power on its own because it amplifies the user's power. I still don't know how that worked to defeat Haguk but this time I have my full power." The glow began to envelope her and she levitated above the ground as she chanted her spell and brought everyone's multiple shadows to life, sending them all after the elders.

The elders hadn't expected the swarm of shadows that just kept coming. Then the shadows of the DeSpells showered them with magical attacks. "How is that possible?!" The first elder screeched as all three of them did their best to dodge and dispel the shadows and the magical barrage. "Of course, my shadows and those of my siblings can use our magic and it's all amplified by this amulet." Magica explained as she watched the elders scramble to get the shadows under control.

Eventually they had dispelled all the shadows and stood, huffing and puffing, visibly exhausted yet not quite willing to call an end to the battle. "That was an impressive trick DeSpell but it'll take more than that." The first elder said. Magica still smirked. "Did you forget that _you're_ casting shadows as well?" The elders slowly turned to see their own shadows standing behind them, magic crackling from shadowy fingers.

"Oh, all right! You win!" The second elder yelped. "We concede defeat! The third added. "You're forgiven, now make these shades stand down!" The first bellowed. The elders weren't stupid, they were tired enough from dealing with the first wave of shadows but their own, using their own powers against them, wasn't a fight they wanted to take on. Magica silently snickered as she returned to the ground and their shadows did the same, becoming normal shadows once more.

"So, Am I still a failure?" She asked, trying not to be too smug with the elders though she couldn't help but feel just a bit prideful over her victory. "No… in fact, with more training," The third began slowly. " _Much_ more training," the second added begrudgingly. "You actually have the potential to join our ranks… eventually." The first admitted reluctantly. "Who would have thought that little softy was so strong…" The third muttered. "Only because she has that amulet." The second grumbled. "No, even I have to admit, it was down to her strategy. Yes, the amulet aided her but, she played well with a bad hand." The first said, still somewhat annoyed at having to compliment Magica.

"Alright, you've defeated us and won a small amount of our respect, now leave before we change our minds!" The second bellowed. Magica respectfully bowed to her mentors and then cast a transportation spell to return everyone to McDuck manor.

"Magic that was terribly reckless… and incredible!" Poe wrapped his sister in a huge hug once they were safely in Scrooge's foyer, tremendously relieved that things ended well. "Well done, Magica. I'm truly impressed. _But_ don't EVER scare us like that again!" Hexa said, a rare smile on her face. "You actually are marvelous Magica! I'm sorry I ever doubted you!" Castandra joined Poe, turning his hug into a small group hug. "You'd better be." Magica smirked at her sister. "That was scary but really thrilling, I'm proud of you." Winnicent added.

Magica would never be able to put into words how she felt at that moment, a combination of gelatin knees about ready to give way from the exhaustion and fear she felt every moment of the fight with the elders and an overwhelming warm feeling mixed with a little ego inflation as her sisters told her how proud they were of her. She had finally vindicated herself, finally proved she wasn't a failure. Then the need for air as she suddenly felt dizzy and those aforementioned knees gave in.

Poe helped her to the nearest seat as best he could and used his magic to conjure a glass of water from the kitchen. "Are you okay?" He asked as she drank the water down. "Yes, I'm fine, just really tired." She finished the water. "Is everyone else okay?" She asked, looking around the room, eyes landing on Scrooge. Then she felt a soft hug and looked down. Huey was hugging her for the third time. "I'm sorry I blamed you what happened. Thank you for everything you did!" He kept thanking her and she softly chuckled. "I suppose you brats have grown on me."

Then Scrooge stepped up. "Thank you. But I agree with your sister, don't do something that reckless again!" He snapped. "I just risked my neck to protect you and _that's_ how you thank me?" She snapped back. "Well it was _my_ dime that boosted your powers." "Exactly; don't think the irony of that is lost on me Scrooge." Their smiles gave them away, and no one was going to ruin the moment, instead Huey let go and Scrooge helped Magica to her feet and to the room she'd been staying in so she could rest; and stole a few small, sweet kisses once away from prying eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

A few months later; Magica was pacing back and forth, eyeing the window in the room she was in as a possible means of escape.

"Magica DeSpell, don't you even think of running out of that window." Goldie said sternly.

"I'm surprised someone like you would be such a bundle of nerves!" Brigitta added.

"I can't explain it, I'm just so nervous… I don't think I can do this! Why did I even agree to this?" She eyed the window again.

Goldie moved between Magica and the window. "Don't you dare." Brigitta sighed. "If you do that than you're worse than she is!" She said, motioning to Goldie.

"Thanks, like I needed to be reminded." Goldie scoffed, then turned her attention back to Magica. "You and I both know that if you run off like that you won't get far before Scrooge chases you down." "You'd tell him if I jumped out this window, wouldn't you?" Magica glared at Goldie. "In a heartbeat." Goldie smirked.

"Okay, there's no need to fight ladies," Brigitta said, pushing Goldie and Magica apart. "Just calm down; you'll be fine. Besides, it's a little late to back out now…" Magica sighed. "You're right. Besides, I am a powerful witch! I shouldn't be so nervous and acting like some frightened girl…" She stood tall and after a moment her determined look gave way to her nerves again. "But what if something goes wrong or it doesn't work or-"

Goldie grabbed her beak and held it closed. "Magica are you hearing yourself? The only thing that's going wrong is your nerves. Some mighty witch. Just take a deep breath and get it together." She smiled warmly. "Everything will be fine. You need to calm down." She released Magica's beak. Brigitta smiled too. "She's right. It's all going to be fine." Magica took a deep breath and nodded. "You're both right. Thanks."

Then there was a quick knock on the door before Poe stuck his head in the room. "You ready yet Magi? Wow…" He took stock of his sister, standing there in her dress, hair and makeup perfectly done and couldn't help a gasp. "Who knew such a lady was in here." He chuckled. "Shut it Poe!" Magica said blushing. Goldie and Brigitta both laughed. "She's ready." Goldie said. "Good, then shall we? I'm anxious to give you away to Scroogie as a token of my gratitude for his part in getting me back to normal." He chuckled again. Magica scowled. "You're awful." "Oh, come on, you know this wouldn't be happening if you didn't want it yourself." He grinned. "Let's just go now." She said and they all left the room.

Scrooge stood at the altar, waiting nervously and seriously questioning his decision, not because he didn't want to do this but because she was late; was Magica uncomfortable in the church? Had someone, his sisters, who came to attend the ceremony, or hers, said something to upset her? Was allowing Goldie and Brigitta to be bridesmaids causing a problem after all? So many questions and worries filled his mind but none louder, or more concerning, than the possibility that she had gotten cold feet and run away. After all, she had seemed rather nervous and uncertain about the whole thing despite reassuring him that she wanted to marry him.

After everything that had happened, the false engagement, Haguk, the ring, and Rochelle and Elders, Scrooge and Magica had come to realize each other's feelings and just how good they were together; his family had even warmed up to idea, though Donald, who had agreed to be Scrooge's best man, Dewey, and Beakley still had their reservations they all agreed not to interfere. After all, they couldn't argue what Magica had done to protect them all.

Magica's sisters had even come and Castandra was even one of the bridesmaids, the fourth and final bridesmaid being Daisy. The remaining groomsmen were Launchpad, Poe and Rosolio, who agreed partly because his girlfriend was a bridesmaid and partly as a show of good faith. Donald's friends Jose and Panchito had even attended and agreed to perform at the reception, alongside the orchestral band Scrooge had hired. Even Glomgold was in attendance, probably just because Goldie was there, but still.

Everything seemed to be perfect except the bride herself hadn't appeared. Just as Scrooge was about to find some excuse to go see what was wrong the wedding march began to play and the bridal procession began. He held back a sigh of relief.

Any and all nervousness left Scrooge's mind when he saw her; Magica was nothing less than stunning in her strapless mermaid style gown, white with black lace rose appliques that wrapped around the bodice and down the skirt with a flowing train behind her. Her hair was pinned up elegantly with black pearl pins and belladonna flowers, like the ones that decorated the pews, with a thin veil, decorated with appliques to match the dress, delicately draped over her face. She also wore a strand of black pearls around her neck and matching earrings. Her makeup was flawless and her eye shadow matched her black pearls.

The bridesmaids, Goldie, Brigitta, Castandra and Daisy all looked gorgeous in their single shoulder, midnight blue dresses; each dress was sprinkled with small silver jewels and had a crescent moon pin on the shoulder so it looked like they were each wearing a piece of the night sky; but Magica still stood out, as a bride should, more beautiful than any of them.

Goldie was in front, behind her Donald and Daisy, then Brigitta and Rosolio, Launchpad and Castandra, and finally Poe walking with Magica. Poe was to give the bride away, neither of their parents were living so he had said he would do it in their absence, and so their grandmother wouldn't volunteer to do it.

Granny DeSpell could be heard muffling her sobs as she watched them pass by. Hexa patted her shoulder halfheartedly.

Finally, they reached the end and the music stopped. Magica felt relieved when she saw the remnants of nervousness on Scrooge's face, she wasn't the only one who was nervous. Goldie and the others took their places on either side of the altar and then the old minister spoke. "Who gives this woman to be wed?" He said with a shaky voice and a quick, curious glance at Magica, who just pretended to ignore that he was wondering why the bride was a witch.

Scrooge had wanted a traditional church wedding and even though it wasn't traditional by witch standards, Magica agreed because she honestly didn't care for the details beyond choosing a dress to wow him with and the fact that he wanted her to stay by his side forever, that he wanted her to be his wife. She had accepted his proposal without hesitation and quickly found that _actually_ planning a wedding was far more work than _pretending_ to plan one, but they did it together and actually had more fun than when they had just pretended.

Now the moment of truth had finally arrived, she stood there, taking it in for a moment; she was actually standing at an altar beside Scrooge, something she never even dared to imagine and yet it was really happening.

"I do." Poe answered the minister's question and released Magica's hand, lifted her veil and hugged her. "I really am very happy for you." He whispered in her ear before taking his place among the other groomsmen.

The ceremony proceeded and though not everyone in attendance fully agreed with the couple, the way Scrooge and Magica looked at each other as they said their vows spoke volumes. Magica barely held back a gasp of surprise when she saw the ring; it was custom made, a white gold band set with a piece of the Moonquartz she had given him with small diamond accents. When the old minister asked if there were any objections no one said a word.

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife." The old minister concluded the ceremony. "You may now kiss the bride."

Magica couldn't help blushing at that moment, as she and Scrooge locked eyes and closed the distance. Just before they kissed, Scrooge grinned at her playfully then wrapped his arms around her and dipped her as he kissed her. Slightly startled, she wrapped her arms around his neck for support and smiled into the kiss. As they straightened up and parted the room cheered.

At the reception everyone chatted and enjoyed the food as well as the music and dancing. Naturally, Scrooge and Magica had shared the first dance, to the melody of L-O-V-E, which of course Poe and Goldie sang while the band played. Goldie and Poe then proceeded to have more fun singing with orchestral band in between performances by Donald and his friends, aka The Three Caballeros.

When everyone sat down to eat, toasts were made. Donald, being the best man started, but quickly fumbled his semi-legible words as he tried to find something nice to say about Magica and just ended with a simple "Congratulations Uncle Scrooge." Before sitting down. Then Goldie made a short but sweet toast. "Here's to the happy couple; I wish you all the best!"

It warmed Scrooge's heart that his old friend was so supportive, he wouldn't have held it against her if she had been a little jealous or not in favor of his marrying Magica; but instead Goldie was right there, helping with preparations and even agreeing to be a bridesmaid, and if he had to guess by the looks exchanged between her and Magica, they were becoming good friends.

Poe then made the last toast of the evening. "To the bride and groom; You make my sister happy and that makes me happy. Call me soft but I don't care, I am happy to see Magica finally get her happily ever after like I once had mine." He grinned at his sister, a smile consisting of equal parts joy and playfulness, then sat back down.

Then everyone began eating and talking among themselves. Scrooge and Magica watched wearily as their families mingled, silently praying that no fights would break out and then finding themselves nervous when it started to look like Scrooge's sisters, Matilda and Hortense, where _actually_ getting along well with Magica's sisters.

"Hopefully that doesn't develop into a problem." Magica whispered to Scrooge as they finished their meals and rose from their seats. "Hopefully not, but maybe we should just be grateful that they're not at each other's throats." He whispered back. She nodded and they took to the dance floor again for a while.

"Alright, it's time to throw the bouquet now!" Magica called after a few dances with Scrooge. Goldie, Brigitta, Castandra, Daisy, Webby and Lena all lined up to try to catch the bouquet. The bouquet was comprised of red roses and belladonna flowers as well as some greenery and a few other small flowers. Magica turned her back to the group, counted to three and tossed the bouquet. There was momentary chaos and then Goldie stood proudly with the bouquet in hand.

"Nice catch, you know what that means now…" Goldie turned her head to see Glomgold standing beside her, raising his eyebrows suggestively at her. Her face fell instantly. "I don't think so. Here." She handed the bouquet to Brigitta and walked off to one of the buffet tables. Glomgold followed Goldie while Brigitta and Rosolio just looked at the bouquet, then each other, blushing brightly.

Near the end of the night, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, and Lena decided to hijack the music and the boys borrowed some instruments to play while Webby and Lena borrowed a couple of mics. They then began to play 'Do You Believe in Magic' for the last song of the night and everyone enjoyed the impromptu performance.

Then finally the night came to an end and Scrooge and Magica left to start their honeymoon, and of course, live happily ever after.

Quick note here; I own NONE of the songs mentioned in this story!


End file.
